Fading dream
by Madea Gwyn
Summary: Gaara has a demon sealed in him, just like Naruto. Though the redhead doesn't like it, they become something like friends. Until they're ripped apart for five years.
1. Prologue: My world

**Rated M for cursing/insulting, violence and yaoi content in later chapters. AU GaaraxNaruto**

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**EDIT 07/07/2013:  
Deleted the lemon in chapter 8 and 10. Sorry, but got stress with the rules of ff and don't want this story to be deleted. Will be up on aff soon.**

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**A/N: **Okay, this is my first fanfiction at all! ^^ And to top this, it isn't writen in my mother tongue. I hope you all understand it, when there's something ... odd. I'm glad about every suggestion for improvement.

_This is no all-are-happy story! Violence, curses, insults, self-harm (though not in main-storyline), thoughts of rape and so on. Not happy with it? Don't read._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the occuring characters. Naruto (C) Masashi Kishimoto

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**_Fading dream_**

**Prologue: My world**

When Naruto woke up this morning, he immediately knew he didn't like this day. It wasn't that he isn't the type to get up early, he got himself adjusted to that necessity. It wasn't also that he had to go to school in a few minutes.

Realizing, that he overslept while looking dazed at the clock, he jumped out of his bed. "Fuck! I'm gonna be late!" he mumbled to himself while getting dressed. Hurrying to get out of his room and to school he couldn't stop to fall back to his musing why he didn't like this particular day.

Soon he came to his answer: it was the first day of a new term. And even worse, it was a whole new year. That meant new classes where he didn't know most people. But that didn't meant they don't know him and don't hate him.

Although he was at easy that in difference to last year he at least knew the reason for this hate towards him. He assumed, most children even didn't know why they hated him. They were just told by their parents to do so. Even more it hurt Naruto. It wasn't his fault that everyone despised him.

It wasn't his fault.

Twelve years ago , just hours after his birth, a demon fox was sealed within him. Iruka told him, people fear demon beings. Those, who become a vessel for a tailed beast, are told to be more aggressive and violent. Naruto wasn't able to say anything about the truth of this since he was always who he was. However, he didn't even believe in demons, ghosts and other fairytales.

But soon after, the fox spoke to him the first time.

Just when the bell that announced the beginning of lessons rang, Naruto noticed that he wasn't running to school anymore, but standing in the spacious courtyard of Konohas 'Green Leaf' School. Shocked at being late for the first lesson in the new year ,he started to run again. Although he wanted other people to acknowledge him and have their attention, he realized that those two not always go hand in hand. And being late is one of the things people don't like. So he ran for his class to the wide fields behind the school building.

He was happy having chosen a practical class for the morning. He knew that he wasn't a good thinker and some training in the morning usually helped his brain to start working.

All together he was happy being at this school. It gave its pupils the most possible freedom for choosing their lessons. They still had to do at least one theoretical and one practical lesson a day and at least one of every field once a week. However, in the end they had either a lot of free time, but needed more years to graduate, or had a whole shit of work to do, but were able to leave this special boarding school after two or three years. Of course Naruto preferred to the more practical lessons and he took his time for graduating. There wasn't anyone waiting for him back at home.

Special boarding school … Yeah, that was the right term for the green leaf. It was called a military school. But it wasn't like a regular military school. All in all it was a place where children could be whoever they want to be, but still kept them grounded and gave them a way to achieve their dreams. And though it was a boarding school, more than 90% of its students came from Konoha.

With this thoughts he arrived for the first lesson in this new year.

"Oh, please no!" Sakura sighed when Naruto fought his way through the bushes to the training place that was assigned to his group.

'My group isn't as bad as it could be,' Naruto thought and grinned at the pink haired girl with the light green eyes, which leaned against a tree. Though Sakura didn't like him very much, he liked her. She was his first crush and that didn't change even after the two years he knows her now. To his most happiness, she was never offensive against him, what meant she liked him at least a little bit. The third member of his group was Sasuke. Well, Sasuke didn't seem to like anyone. Nevertheless all girls fell for him, including Sakura, which stared at Sasuke now, giving Naruto a glare from time to time. However, Naruto decided already years ago that Sasuke would be his Nr. 1 rival since everyone called him a genius.

Eventually their teacher for this lesson arrived. Naruto never saw him before and wasn't sure what to think about a man who covered most of his face.

"Yo! My name is Kakashi. I'm your supervisor for 'Basic Combat Training I', or short 'BCTI', starting from today on," he said with a friendly tone and holding up his hand in a greeting. "I see you already warmed up, Naruto. Good preparations," Kakashi told his blond student after looking into his papers, which earned even more glares from Sakura.

"But Kakashi-sensei! He was late! He just looks like that because he was running to class!" Sakura argued in hope for getting more time alone with Sasuke.

"Well, he was here before I was and is ready to start lesson. So I guess I will oversee this for now. You see, I have to introduce myself to more groups, so please read this and try to find another group you can train with during this lessons," with which Kakashi gave his students a small booklet and wandered off, waving. Naruto stared at the silver haired man and decided that he liked him.

The first day went on and nothing notable happened.

The new term wasn't as horrible as Naruto thought it would be. He knew most people in his lessons already. Well, there were some new students he never saw on campus before, which looked somehow odd. Shikamaru told him they just transferred from a partner school which was named 'Yellow Sand' in Suna to the green leaf. And Suna was just a hell away from Konoha. That explained their odd sense for fashion to Naruto and so he didn't bother to think more about the three siblings.

The first month went away and then the second.

Naruto noticed, their sense for fashion wasn't the only odd thing about the sand-siblings, how everyone called them by now. It looked most likely if the older two always avoided their little brother, though the girl sometimes looked sad at her littlest brother. The youngest one also didn't seem to bother about his siblings. Every day after his lessons he just sat in a tree in the outskirts of the forest that was behind the school. Not that Naruto cared about him, but once when he had detention he saw the child sitting in his tree even though it was already night. He just sat there calmly, looking at the sky, not moving for hours.

As time went by, it was the date of their first practical exam.

"The test for BCTI consists of two parts," Kakashi explained to his assembled students. 16 groups were sitting on the grass in front of the forest. "First, all groups will get one out of two scrolls. Then all groups will enter the forest behind me, starting from different spots. In order to process to the second part of the exam you will need to bring both scrolls back to me or any other responsible teacher within 48 hours," he continued and introduced Iruka-sensei, Guy-sensei, Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. "However, who opens a scroll will fail immediately and who don't bring back both scrolls to us within the time limit will also fail. There aren't any other classes this week, so you don't need to fear anything, Sakura," he said, those last words smiling to the fidgeting pink haired girl.

"That isn't, what I'm wondering about, Kakashi-sensei …" Sakura muttered.

Kakashi sighed. "Then what is it?"

"Am I right that at maximum half of the groups can pass this test?"

"You're right-"

"But that's unfair!" the girl interrupter her teacher.

"Sakura …" Kakashi growled slightly annoyed, "I never said that all of you are able pass this class. To be correct, it will be at most half of you, but it also may be that no one will pass."

Some of the students gasped, some smirked in anticipation about the upcoming test of their skills.

"Make your last preparations, we will start in about half an hour," was Kakashis last statement before leaving the groups alone.

…

Naruto sat down on the grass and looked at the other groups. He already knew one of them since they were their partner group for training. He also knew most of the students of the other groups, even though he didn't knew up to now they were visiting this class. Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji formed a group and also did Hinata, Kiba and Shino. There were even older students like TenTen, Lee and Neji. But one group confused him. It was the only group where all members had a different age - and how was it supposed to be different - it were the sand-siblings. It was clearly visible that the older two still avoided their little brother, which was just staring at the forest without any emotions at all in his face visible. Naruto mused if they would make it even through the first round. His musings were stopped by Kakashi, who announced the exam to start in about five minutes.

…

After the first part of the exam, 6 groups were still in. Mostly those Naruto knew. His own group made it just in time, giving them no time to recover from this trial.

"The second part of the exam will be held in the gym. Everyone, please follow me," Kakashi told his exhausted students and those which came just back from the dorms. Naruto was surprised seeing the sand-siblings as sole group coming from their rooms. The girl and the older boy seemed to be even more nervous around their brother.

They arrived at the gyms and Kakashi started to explain the second part of the exam, "This will be a one on one fight of randomly chosen opponents. I know very well, that you are used to fight in groups, but you need to be able to fight alone as well, so please no interruptions, Sakura. Well, I and the other teachers will judge your abilities and decide whether you pass this exam or not. To win your fight is not necessary to pass, but it may help you a lot. If you don't feel ready for this now, you may quit now."

Sakura started to fidget again at those last words. "Come on, Sakura. I know you will kick the ass of whoever you will need to face!" Naruto reassured the sad looking girl. Seeing his smile, she got her self assurance back and smiled back at him.

The one on one fights were more or less interesting for Naruto, some causing him to cheer for one of the opponents. Naruto himself had a hard time with his own fight, but in the end he did win, leaving a pissed Kiba.

But the fight that really caught his interest was the one of the youngest of the sand-siblings. Something in his depths gave him an odd feeling while watching at the skinny, small boy with the pale skin, the blood-red hair, those black rimmed green eyes, which seemed to look at nothing, the odd gourd on his back and the Kanji-tattoo on his forehead. It was the first time Naruto was able to read it and he mused, why a boy would want to have Ai, love, written on his forehead. It was also the first time Naruto noticed, that this boy didn't have any eyebrows at all.

All this together still wasn't the reason for the feeling, Naruto had right now. There were a lot of things about Gaara - Naruto just heard the name of the boy for the first time when he was called to the arena - which would give people the creeps, but nothing of this was the cause of the feeling Naruto had right now.

Over his musings he didn't even notice the start of the fight, not till he heard the sound of screaming girls and cursing boys.

He searched for the course for the reaction of his fellow students and followed their gazes. Then Naruto saw it.

There was a mass of sand floating in the air.

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Edited 07/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	2. Chapter 1: The boy and the demon

**A/N:** Okay, here's the first chapter! I still struggle a bit with my style of writing. This chapter is still a bit odd, but I feel my love for writing coming back. Seriously, why didn't I write for whole 7 years?  
I need to improve my word pool for english words ...

For all those wondering: NO I won't write yaoi with little boys :D Just be patient and wait.

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**Chapter 1: The boy and the demon**

So, there was this mass of sand floating in the air. Naruto didn't believe his eyes. It was impossible for sand to float and even more to float in their gym. The next thing he noticed was that something green hung down from the massive middle of the sand. The sand started to move like a living being and threw the green thing against a wall. Not till Guy ran screaming to the green thing, Naruto noticed this _thing_ actually was Lee.

He regained his senses and started to search for the other student in the arena, wanting to warn him. The redhead stand there, his hair only a bit messier than before. Naruto opened his mouth to a scream when the floating sand started to curl around the kid.

But what happened next was total out of his comprehension. The sand started to form a gourd, rested on the Gaaras back and he left the arena, walking back to his siblings and sitting down beside them.

While all this was happening, Asuma called an ambulance for Lee. Luckily they had an inner-campus ambulance. They said his injuries were serious, but not life threatening, while carrying him away on a stretcher.

No one dared to ask what the hell just happened. Getting injuries was a price they hat to pay for this education. Bruises and scratches were normal routine and as long as nobody hovered between life and death after a struggle, none of the adults cared. They all knew where to stop. Hopefully.

Since it was the last fight, their teachers told them to leave and wait for the annunciation of their grades.

No one seemed to want to know what just happened, except for Naruto. He knew there was something odd about the boy and now he was sure. He felt the kyuubi inside him rambling. He looked out for the redhead and waited until he and his siblings leaved the place. He wanted to follow them, but a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"You should better not bother them," Sasuke said with his monotone voice. Naruto looked back at his friend and recognized his gaze, a mix between disgust and the anticipation for a good fight.

Naruto freed himself from Sasukes grip, gave him a reassuring smile and turned back to follow Gaara. But neither he, nor his siblings, were visible anywhere around the gym. He cursed loud and went to go back to his room. Eventually an idea hit his mind. He turned and ran back to the forest.

There he was. Sitting in the same tree as every time. As if nothing had happened. Naruto noticed, the boy was sitting rather high in the tree and this wasn't a good tree for climbing.

"Just how the hell do you get up there?" Naruto asked the redhead with his usual smile. No answer. "Okay, um … I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I know your first name is Gaara, but what about your last name?" the blond tried to start the conversation.

Gaara didn't even blink. Naruto didn't know anything more how to start a pleasant conversation with him. Seemingly the gossip about this boy was at least half true. He stood there for a few minutes, watching the redhead which didn't move at all, not wanting to give up. Giving up was one thing he never did in his whole live.

When the skinny redhead was able to climb this tree, he would be also able to handle it. It took him nearly half an hour, but in the end Naruto was on a branch next to Gaara. He felt some while ago that green eyes started to follow him. While sitting on this branch, Naruto noticed the first time the full intense of this eyes. In difference to his previous thoughts they weren't dull. Though it looked most time like he was looking at nothing, he realized it was more like he was looking at something in himself. But now these emeralds stared at Naruto, clearly seeing him. The redhead switched from an interested look to a scowl.

"Go," Naruto heard the redhead speak for the first time. In difference to his body, his voice was deep and mature. Too mature for child of his age.

"Or what?" he answered cheeky grinning.

At first, Gaara seemed to be confused, but in no time he was back to his glaring. "You remember what happened to your little friend just an hour ago?" he growled.

"Uhm, well, yeah, that's the main reason why I'm here ," Naruto stated sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "Just what the hell happened? No one wants to know, but I do."

"It's nothing of your concern," Gaara said with a monotone voice and turned his gaze back to the sky, which started to become red in the sunset.

"The kyuubi inside me started to ramble just before your fight. He said, he know 'you'. Though I'm sure, he didn't meant the 'you' that I know."

At the mention of the name 'kyuubi' Gaaras eyes grew wide. He snapped his head back to the boy with the golden hair. "What did you just say?" he whispered.

"I said the kyuu-" Naruto started, but was interrupted by Gaara, who jumped from his own branch over to Naruto, hitting him right in the face. Blue eyes met yellow ones. Yellows, with weird cross shaped pupils. Wait … No, they're green and just like they should be. Must have been his imagination.

Gaaras hard hit made Naruto losing his balance. Falling, he made his last prayers, knowing this would kill him. He knew, he survived a lot of things where most people would have died, but a fall from about 10 meters to a hard and rocky ground wouldn't even he survive.

The more he was surprised to feel his pain after hitting the ground. He was still conscious thanks to his effort to protect his head, but was barely able to move. In difference to Gaara, who landed on him. The redhead stared at him with a look that was hard to read. Somewhere deep in Gaaras eyes, Naruto saw the urge to hurt. And then there was … guiltiness? Gaara looked down at his hand which was stained with Narutos blood.

The kyuubi in Naruto was screaming. Demon. Demon.

Slowly, but inevitable Naruto lost his consciousness.

Naruto woke up on a sunny day, the birds tweeted outside and the sun tickled his nose.

But his head hurt like hell.

"Urgh, what happened?" he mumbled to himself.

"Finally awake, Mr. Longsleeper?" a female voice asked him.

"Huh? Who are you? And what are you doing in my room?" Naruto asked panicked back. Then he slowly noticed that he wasn't in his room. "Wait … Where am I?"

The woman opened the curtains around his bed an revealed herself. "Don't say you forgot me already, Naruto-kun," Shizune pouted.

"Oh, of course not, Ms. Nurse!" he said sheepishly. He and the schools head nurse, Shizune, were on good terms since he was a regular in the infirmary.

"I just needed some time to order things in my head. But … What happened? I don't remember how I come to lie in this bed."

"I can't tell you much either," Shizune said with a sad tone, "three days ago I came here in the morning, like every day, and there you were, lying on the floor and blood all over you. Since then you slept. It's almost a wonder you're still alive."

"Whaaaat?! Three whole days?" Naruto freaked out, "What about my grades?!"

Shizune gave him another sad look and shook her head.

Suddenly, the memories of his little 'talk' with Gaara came back. He silently turned his head to the window, knowing well that all windows of the infirmary were directed to the forest. But Gaara didn't sit in his tree.

It took Gaara nearly two weeks before he came back to his tree again. Naruto knew because he was waiting for the redhead there every day. By this time the leafs of the trees on the campus of Konohas "Green Leaf" started to become yellow and red.

Eventually on day the petite red-haired boy showed up again, glaring at him. "You want to be beat up again?" he asked in a poison dripping whisper. Naruto noticed Gaara wasn't wearing his gourd anymore, but a sand-brown shoulder bag, which rested against his hip.

'So he is able to change the form of his murderous weapon,' Naruto thought with a sad smile. Yet the skinny boy, who was one head smaller than Naruto, was able to send him seeing stars with a single punch even without the sand.

Gaara grow even more impatient. "No," Naruto answered suddenly in a sad tone, "I just want to talk with you."

The redhead didn't say anything, just started to climb the tree. It took Naruto some moments before he followed the other boy with his eyes and he was surprised to see him already sitting on his usual branch.

"Just how do you do that?!" Naruto started his rambling, grinning, "I'm pretty good in climbing trees and even with all my exercises on this tree I won't make it in under seven minutes!" No reaction at all from the redhead. Naruto had the feeling this boy was a hart nut to crack. "You know, I think you're the same like me," he said in a somber tone after some moments of silence.

Suddenly Gaara shifted and fell. Naruto got a shock and prayed he wouldn't be suspected of driving the redhead into suicide, or even worse, murdered him. But Gaara landed smoothly beside him and didn't even twist an ankle. "You know nothing about me," he growled. Naruto couldn't stop but notice that Gaaras voice was somehow … appealing. In the same moment he refused the thought. The redhead went to go back to the dorms.

"I know there's a demon sealed within you." Gaara turned around to look at the blond boy, seeing him without his usual grin, but pained. "I know how it hurts when they're looking at you," he continued, "and you even don't know why."

"To sad I knew it," Gaara said and leaved a stunned Naruto.

Naruto knew Gaara wouldn't come to the trees again.

During their BCTI-lessons Naruto thoughts drifted away more often. He knew, somewhere in this fields behind school, Gaara was with his siblings. He always thought at least the family of a vessel would be different towards them. But he just learned it wasn't this way. He thought about leaving Sakura some time with Sasuke alone and searching the redhead.

"Naruto? Is something up?" Sakura suddenly asked him worried.

"Eh? Oh! Uhm, of course not!" he answered nervous, scratching the back of his head. He saw that Sakura didn't believe him, but she also knew he had his reasons. He wasn't the type for daydreams and big thoughts, but when he did so, he was happy when no one interrupted him.

Naruto fell back in his musings, unconsciously watching his groups training. This year was way better than the years before. Somehow the gossip about him stopped and no one avoided him. Was it because they finally saw he wasn't a demon himself? Or was is because they now had the redhead to gossip about? He knew, he was able to make friends despite being a vessel for a tailed beast.

He knew the look in Gaaras eyes and the tone of his voice. It was the same Naruto had before coming to Konohas 'Green Leaf', when everything was even worse.

And what was most important to him now: he wanted nobody to have to endure the same.

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Edited 07/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	3. Chapter 2: Autumn chill

**Chapter 2: Autumn chill**

Slowly autumn arrived.

By this time the blond annoyance get to know Gaaras new hideout. Far behind the dorms was a greenhouse with cactuses. How fitting for him to be here.

At least he hadn't to climb a tree to desolate himself from others and was able to bring coffee with him. Naruto was more cautious this time in his approaches, though Gaara didn't care about the boy. First he went away whenever he saw Naruto, but he didn't switch places again. There was no reason to do so, after all he knew about this spot before the fox with the golden hair did.

After some days he knew that Naruto would neither talk to him nor stare at him. He just sat there between the cactuses. Gaara ignored him, he knew, one day he would have his place again for himself. Everyone grew tired of him after some time.

Thanks to his appearance most people didn't even dare to start any kind of contact with him. Wearing just black, at most joined by red or dark purple, in combination with mesh and a spiked collar did his duty. He smirked at the thought that even his natural blood-red hair, the nonexistence of his brows and the scar on his forehead would be enough to scare off most people. Who wasn't afraid of all of this, he would send off with one of his infamous scowls.

It was still an enigma for him why the boy liked to be in his presence. He even saw his sand. Gaara usually didn't use it, but that green nuisance had to bear the demons lust for violence. They should have been glad it wasn't full moon the night before. There would have been some nice amount of blood.

It was still hard to not kill the fox afterwards. But having TV-teams and reporter for newspapers all over the campus because of a missing student was the last thing he wanted. Of course there was no chance they would find out what he did, he knew how to handle such cases, but it would be loud and crowded.

It opened his eyes literally when he started to talk about the kyuubi. Saying, the kyuubi told him, meant he was his vessel. Shukaku was on edge since ever he joined Konohas 'Green Leaf', but all he did was screaming. The presence of another demon was a reasonable cause for his behavior. When Shukaku get to know where his despised fellow was, he took him violently over for a few seconds, but he was able to fight him back. Though the thought about what would have happen if he hadn't fight him was interesting.

Gaara wasn't surprised, when Naruto didn't come anymore. The more it confused him, when the boy showed up again two days later, covered in bandages and patches. He didn't show his surprise, just looked at the boy for a few moments. Before he turned his gaze back to the cactus in front of him, Naruto was able to send him a cheerful smile.

Whatever.

Most days Gaara was there before Naruto was. When he wasn't, Naruto greeted him with a 'welcome-home'-smile. To Narutos obvious discomfort he always had to leave before the redhead did. Though Gaara left now and then to get a new cup of coffee, he always returned to the greenhouse. In the beginning Naruto followed him to the coffee dispenser in the entrance hall, maybe thinking he will go to his room, just to be disappointed seeing Gaara going back out in the night. One time Naruto even fell asleep in the greenhouse, but woke up a few hours later, seeing the him still sitting between the cactuses.

He didn't really know why, but sometimes during lessons and while walking on the campus, Gaara felt the urge to go to the greenhouse. 'It must be because of the warm air in there,' was his conclusion whenever he thought about the reason for this urge. He didn't miss Suna, but he missed the warm and dry air sometimes. The chill in Konoha at this time of the year was not bad at all, sometimes it was even pleasant to feel the cold bite on his skin, but there were also those times where just wanted to feel the sun burning on his skin.

…

One day Naruto sat down right beside Gaara. He hoped, the blond was out of his thoughts today and that there was no particular reason for this act. None of his thoughts were visible to the outside as usual.

The next day it was the same, meaning Naruto wasn't out of his thoughts. It annoyed him, but he already knew glaring and scowling did not work on Naruto, so he didn't even start the attempt. He thought about planting his fist in the blonds face, bur restrained himself. It wouldn't make him go. The bigger boy still just sat there, giving Gaara his companionship. It was already dark outside when Naruto started to talk.

"You know, today is my birthday," he said cheerful grinning at the redhead. "It's now 13 years ago that they sealed the fox inside me and about half year that I know about his presence," his tone was sad now, his eyes directed as his feet.

Gaara didn't react at all at the blond. Naruto didn't talk anymore this evening.

…

He saw the teenager every day, for about month now, sitting in the greenhouse. Up till yesterday there wasn't any word spoken. And now the blond didn't show up. Gaara asked himself, if Naruto finally gave up. The last time Naruto didn't come to the greenhouse, he was seriously injured. Whatever, it wouldn't change anything to think about the boy.

Usually he saw Naruto also during lessons from far away, but he couldn't see the boy now for two days. Did something happen again? His scar started to throb. It was the well-known warning of his 'mother', which wanted to protect him from being hurt again. She didn't gave a sign for years, why now? Why did he even think about the boy? He shut the thoughts of the blond back in the last corner of his aching head. Today he won't go to the greenhouse.

Five days passed since he saw the boy with the golden hair the last time. His scar didn't stop to throb anymore. His siblings were even more coward in his presence. Maybe because he tended to attack them more often when he was in a state like now.

They called him mentally instable back at home. Because his father wasn't able to handle him anymore, he send him and his siblings to the green leaf. Gaara because he feared consequences of his sons behavior for his own political position, if he was to stay in Suna. His siblings because he thought they would have him under control at least a bit. He didn't see them except for lessons.

A week after he last saw Naruto, Gaara sat once again in the greenhouse between cactuses. There was some feeling inside him he wasn't able to name. He tugged his legs to his chest, curled himself into a little ball and rested his head on his knees. He had this feeling once before, when he was a little child.

He went neither back to his room this night nor to classes the next day. It wasn't like he was able to sleep either way. The demon inside him would take him over whenever he slept.

He just didn't felt like going.

…

Gaara startled out of his meditation, which he used as a replacement for sleep, when he heard the squealing door of the greenhouse. He raised his head and felt a breeze against his wet eyelids. He stared at the door, where a patched up Naruto with a black eye stood, not able to cover his confusion.

This had to be an illusion, he didn't rest enough those last days because of the ever throbbing scar. The illusion closed the door and walked towards Gaara. It crouched down beside the on the ground lying, curled up redhead and reached out to touch his cheeks. While the illusion softly caressed him, Gaara felt that his cheeks were also still wet.

"Did someone hurt you?" the Naruto-like looking hallucination asked him.

"Why can't you be real?" Gaara mumbled soft, ignoring the question. The pain his scar gave him started after the blond left him alone. Maybe it would soothe if he was with him again. Just like his head stopped to hurt when he finally drunk his coffee after being forced to restrict his consumption.

The illusion stopped its motions. "Why shouldn't I am real?" it pouted.

"Naruto's gone," Gaara mumbled, staring somewhere in the distance. Yes, some coffee would be nice now.

"Hey Gaara, you know I'm happy you're talking to me, but this isn't funny anymore," it said careful. It pulled him up into a sitting state, took a bottle of water out of his back and hold it out for Gaara. The redhead didn't move, just stared perplexed at the bottle. How was an illusion able to lift him up? "You still know how to drink, do you?" it asked, now even more worried, "You're freaking light, way too light even for a kid of your size, if you ask me, but I still don't want to have to carry you to the infirmary."

Gaara nodded and grabbed the bottle. A few minutes later Naruto started to talk again. Gaara still wasn't sure, but for the moment he believed him being real. Not that he ever dreamed, but considering characteristics, this felt like a dream.

"Just what the hell happened with you? Okay, I'm sorry about disturbing you here again, but is that a reason to freak out, cry and call me a hallucination?!" he asked pouting.

Although Gaara had seen the boy a lot of times now, he just noticed the fascinating color of his eyes. The deep and shining blue of the sky on a sunny day. They weren't teary, but he saw clearly that the boy was hurt. He was like an open book when it came to his emotions. Seeing the pain in Narutos face made him upset. He didn't care about anyone, why hit this blond annoyance his nerves that hard? Though it didn't upset him just in the 'common' way. This feeling had something animalistic.

It made his brain give up his job. "You're not disturbing me," he said gentle. He didn't notice what he said until it was out.

Naruto sat there as if someone had told him he was female in truth, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped to the floor. Just when Gaara regretted what he said, the blond started to grin. A grin that was even more dazzling than the pain he saw just moments before. Gaara couldn't stop the thought that he liked this expression on the blond. Especially the shine his eyes had now.

"Wow! So you can actually have another expression on your face than your usual 'I'm-gonna-kill-you'-look!" Naruto said chuckling. "Oh come on … Your smile was so cute. Why did you hide it again?" he pouted.

He was smiling? And Naruto thought about it being 'cute'? How humiliating. If calling him a child wasn't enough, he was 'cute' now. Still he felt a blush racing to his face, jumped up and went for going back to his room. "I said I'm not bothered by your presence. Not that you can babble as much as you want," he hissed without looking at the blond before leaving the greenhouse.

…

Back at his room Gaara didn't know what he should think about his own actions. He never really talked to a person except for his siblings. And even those 'conversations' were merely two or three words.

His scar started to hurt again. There wasn't ever any person who wanted to spend his time with him. Best thing would be to not think about Naruto for now and take a hot shower.

…

Just like never anything happened both boys shared their afternoons in the greenhouse again. Just with one difference, Gaara wanted to hear Narutos voice.

After their small 'talk' in the greenhouse, Gaara knew two more things. First , the presence of the boy soothed the pain his scar threw through his whole body - though to be honest, just because of Naruto it started to hurt again - and second, his voice made his demon silent. But Naruto didn't start to talk on his own. Maybe he was scared Gaara would ran off again? Did he scare him when he left last time?

"Why do you look so terrible?" the redhead asked in a monotone voice, not really curios, but in lack of another way to make the blond using his voice.

"Sorry that I look how I look! If I'm such an eyesore I can go!" Naruto muttered and shifted his body to stand up. Gaara snapped his head up and looked directly in Narutos eyes, causing the teenager to stop. The blonds fondness for orange clothing was indeed something that wasn't easy to get used to, but that was not the reason for his question.

He shook slowly but determined his head. "That's not what I'm talking about. Did someone other than me beat you to a pulp?"

"You and beating me to a pulp?!" - the blond earned a 'if-you-want-to-test-I'll-do-it-again'-glare from Gaara and remembered apparently his three-day knock out - "Yeah, okay, okay. Calm down. Uhm … Yeah, seems so. On my birthday some idiots had the opinion of giving me a little 'present' when I headed back to the dorms. Nothing serious in the end. I was able to walk to the infirmary on my own. So you're still the unchallenged winner of the 'we-beat-Naruto-up'-challenge. One hit and a three-day k.o.! Seriously!" he said with a subtle approving tone. "But Shizune insisted that I don't leave the bed for a week. Were you lonely?" Naruto asked sheepishly and poked his tongue out a bit.

"No."

When Gaara didn't add anything, Naruto continued, "Then why did you cry that day? I don't think anyone would dare to touch you. If there's even someone who knows about this greenhouse."

"My scar ached," Gaara stated. He hoped the blond would understand he didn't want to talk about this.

"You've got a scar?" Naruto wondered, watching Gaara. The redhead simply pointed his finger at his forehead. "That's a scar? I thought it was a tattoo. Where did you get thi-" Naruto was interrupted by Gaara, who stood up and rushed out of the greenhouse.

He left the puzzled blond boy before he really would kill him.

Gaara was somehow relieved when he saw the blond tuft of hair in the greenhouse waiting for him the next day.

…

One day on his way to the greenhouse suddenly two obstacles were in his way to the salvation from his pain. He looked up into two faces. One of those obstacles was a girl with pink hair and dirty green eyes, the other one a boy with pale skin and black hair. He gave them a short glance and went to forego them. They moved and were again in his way. He smirked challenging, put on his best scowl and folded his arms, hoping they would make their run by then. The girl shivered but stayed. The boy just seemed to be a bit nervous.

When Gaara made no intentions to speak, the boy started, "We won't allow you to go to Naruto again."

Gaara smirked and tilted his head. By now he remembered them as Narutos group members, though he didn't remember their names.

"He was beat up because of you again today," the girl suddenly rushed at him.

Gaaras smirk disappeared. He looked to the greenhouse, the murderous scowl never vanishing from his face. Why would Naruto been beat up because of him? From time to time what Naruto had again some patches on his cheeks or sometimes even a black eye, but he always told him these were injuries he got while training or for being clumsy, what Gaara was able to confirm, so he simply believed him. "Why?"

"You still have to ask, you-"

"Sakura," the boy interrupted her. Gaara felt the sand twitching. The demon was silent for quite a while now. Why did she have to wake him up again? Apparently the other boy remembered also too well what he was able to do. "They found out that you two are going to the same spot after school every day. They also know that you are alone there. I don't think much about it, but others do. Sometimes they just gossip about you, sometimes they do it to provoke him. Today they just beat him up, asking him why his little 'freak' don't show up to protect his little 'lover-boy'. You got a certain fame, if I may say it so, after what you did to Lee. And him being the only person you're allowing to stay in your surroundings doesn't help him very much."

Gaara listened carefully to what the gasbag said and took his time to think about it. Naruto being his 'lover-boy'? He had to admit he was quite cute for a thirteen-years old boy, but that was it, he was just a boy. A kid. Nothing of his interests.

He decided to ignore the demand of those two wimps and made his way to the greenhouse. "Tell those bastards I'm the only one who's allowed to beat him into a pulp."

* * *

Edited 07/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	4. Chapter 3: Snow like blades

**Chapter 3: Snow like blades**

Naruto didn't know why, but suddenly no one talked about him and Gaara anymore. He didn't mind to have some little extra spar from time to time, but he run short on excuses for Gaara. It was one of the redheads odd characteristics that he was even more aggressive every time Naruto told him he had a little fight with someone. Apparently he didn't want to lose his record of the "beat-Naruto-up"-game.

He was about leaving class, when he heard Sakura calling for him. In anticipation he went back, giving the pink-haired girl a questioning look. "I wondered if you want to come along with Sasuke and me, looking for some new clothes in the mall?" she asked with a sweet voice.

Though he wanted to spend more time with Sakura, today wasn't good at all. He wasn't able to tell Gaara beforehand and he knew what would happen the next day if he was not going to the greenhouse now. Running for it, telling him and then going with Sakura was also no option. He would be pissed, shouting insults at him and imprison him by blocking the door with his sand. Naruto didn't know why, but when it came down to him, the redhead was possessive. REALLY possessive. Though he was proud to have awaken some feelings of affection in the redhead, he was glad he wasn't locked up all day and night in the greenhouse by now. It was a wonder he was allowed to take his time for himself when he told him he wouldn't come the next day.

He mused what had to bear Gaaras rage when he did so. Every time Naruto told him he wouldn't be there for the next day, he saw Gaaras mask of casualness slip a bit. The redhead was violent, just as he was supposed to be as a redhead. Naruto had to watch his words or else he had a fist in his face or stomach. Beside this, he also had periodically to bear Gaaras moods.

He chuckled to himself. Even though he had to take so much when he was with Gaara, he enjoyed his time with the kid. No one would understand him and he did not want to explain it - he even wasn't sure himself why liked the redhead so much - but for himself he called him 'friend'.

"Ahhh, sorry Sakura! I've already planned something different," he apologized, wondering if he could make it up with her inviting to a hot chocolate another day, and gave her a look that underlined his sadness about turning her offer down. He took all his resolve and made himself ready to ask her out, when she interrupted his efforts.

"You're going to the greenhouse with the cactuses again …" she noticed more than asking, her voice hollow.

Naruto was slightly surprised and all tension left his body. "Uhm, yeah. How do you know?"

"Everyone knows. Guess why they beat you up two weeks ago," Sakura hissed.

"Wow, calm down! Since then nothing happened anymore!" he tried to soothe his friend slash crush. Why in hell was she so upset?

"But still you have bruises and grazers so often. Don't take me for a fool, Naruto. Do you know why they don't beat you up anymore? Why they don't talk anymore?" - the girl stopped just short enough to let Naruto shake his head - "Because he threatened us to tell everyone he's the only one who's allowed to hurt you!"

Naruto blinked at her. He didn't know much about the redhead. But he knew there must have been more. Gaara didn't know where his injuries came from. Also, why would he tell Sakura to spread his message? He didn't just go to other people and talks to them. Furthermore, yes, he let out his mood on Naruto, but he knew the redhead didn't really want to 'hurt' him. If he wanted to, Naruto would have been already dead. And the last point was, Gaara never talked back without any provocation. Even when someone tried to talk to him, he just ignored them. To bring the redhead to say something was a little wonder for itself.

"Whatever," he growled back at his friend and left the room. He was pissed that she thought he was a kid that wasn't able to take care of itself. Gaara wasn't easy, but he had made his resolve. Who wanted to crack this nut had to accept some hard hits.

He ran for the greenhouse. Gaara was already there, sitting between his favorite cactuses, not reacting at all at the blonds appearance.

Gaara wouldn't react at him at all unless he wasn't more than an hour late. Enjoying the attention the redhead gave him - he stared at the door until Naruto arrived when he was over his usual time - Naruto once provoked his luck and came late five days in a row. His run was halted when on the fifth day some sand was floating around in the greenhouse and welcomed Naruto by tugging him hastily in as soon as he opened the door. Naruto knew by then Gaara was mad about him being late and tried to avoid it from then on. His life was still something Naruto didn't want to lose.

Even worse was it when he didn't show up at all without saying anything, just like he avoided now. His first time doing so was also his last. The day after he didn't come to the greenhouse, Gaara waited for him after his last lesson, throwing 'don't-you-dare-doing-that-ever-again' scowls at him. That day Naruto felt like a pet and wanted to run away, hide himself somewhere and never come back to daylight again, though he was sure Gaara would find and kill him in his rage. For a kid he could be pretty creepy.

How was it even possible for Gaara to wait for him after his last lesson? Had he less lessons than Naruto had? Did he took more lessons than necessary? Or was the redhead able to skip because he was some kind of genius like Sakura or Sasuke? His thoughts were again with his friends and his argument with Sakura.

Still mad he dropped himself beside Gaara. The redhead puckered his non-existent brows and tilted his head. Naruto didn't say anything.

"Talk," Gaara ordered him.

"Am I some pet or what?" he huffed, "Everyone traits me like some puppy today." Naruto continued his rant, glad the redhead didn't answer. He didn't even knew, if Gaara listened to him, but it felt good to let of all the steam without being interrupted.

Eventually Naruto felt sleepy. He couldn't help but yawn. He didn't notice to fell asleep, but when he woke up, sun set long ago. There was no light in the greenhouse, but he could see the outline of Gaara still sitting between the cactuses. To his surprise, his bag was shoved under his head and his jacket was spread over him like a blanket.

…

By the time when all leafs were fallen, Naruto was able to handle most of Gaaras quirks.

First, whatever Naruto tried, on usual terms the redhead was never the first to leave the greenhouse to retire for night. Sometimes he even had the feeling the redhead wasn't sleeping at all. No wonder, if you asked Naruto, with all the coffee. But he also knew every human has to sleep. Even those with a demon inside them, how he could state after some attempts of staying all night long at the greenhouse.

Second, the redhead didn't answer very much, but he wanted the blond to talk about every little thing. When Naruto didn't start to talk by himself, he _ordered_ him to do so. Seemingly he never heard something about 'asking'.

Third, there were some things Naruto shouldn't talk about. Whenever he said 'kyuubi', Naruto earned a fist in his face. When it was about his scar, the demon inside Gaara or his family, the boy just stood up, went out of the greenhouse and didn't come back till the next day. This also included every ace about his sand.

By now Naruto was sure, Gaaras demon was the cause of the floating sand. The redhead never talked about it, but since it apparently had his own will - sometimes the sand started to move without any noticeable reason and the pained looking child tried to call it back - there was no other explanation.

One of the funny things about Gaara was his fondness for cactuses. In the beginning Naruto thought the redhead choose this greenhouse as his hideout because it was in one of the last corners of the campus, but after some time he noticed that Gaara actually _cared_ about this plants. First they were small, crinkly and grey. Now most of them had a mellow green color and were full of life. As much as you can say this about a plant.

…

Soon the first snow fell.

It was funny to watch the redhead, standing in front of the greenhouse for once, trying to catch the crystals, when Naruto came to the greenhouse that day. "You won't be able to catch them this way," he called for him, a full-hearted smile of joy on his lips.

Gaara spun around, his eyes wide in excitement, his lips parted in exhaustion and his cheeks slightly red by the cold air. Sometimes he was such a freaking cute child! Why did he have to disturb this image by all his freak-outs? "What is that?" he asked, his face back to his usual expressionless mask, though he wasn't able to hide the sparkle in his eyes.

"You've never seen snow before?"

"Snow …" he repeated, then shaking his head, his hair flying through the air.

"Suna was pretty hot, ne? I guess it doesn't snow there. Well, it snows, when it's raining in winter. It's just too cold, so the water freezes in the air," he tried to explain though he wasn't good at it. Gaara nodded slowly, his eyes directed at the sky, watching the slow dance of the flakes.

The next day the redhead sat quivering in the greenhouse when Naruto arrived. He had turned his back to the door as usual and Naruto wondered why the boy was shaking. Though it was cold outside, in the greenhouse it was always warm. He sat down next beside him and looked at his face. The redheads cheeks were nearly as red as his hair. His eyes were glassy and he breathed through his mouth. Just one day after the first snow this boy caught a cold.

"Geez! What are you doing …" Naruto mumbled and lowered his head to the redhead's. "Just want to check your temperature, okay?" he warned him. Gaara gave Naruto a look he wasn't able to understand, but there was no aggression in it. Eventually he rested his forehead against his. "You're burning hot! Damn, why are you still sitting here?! Go to the infirmary!" Naruto worried.

"No," was the hoarsely spoken answer from Gaara. Naruto knew there was no point in arguing with Gaara. He was a damn thickhead.

"At least take some rest." He tugged the redhead into his lap and placed his head against his shoulder. Rocking him like an infant and caressing his short red locks, which were surprisingly soft, Gaara soon stopped to quiver. Watching him from such a close distance Naruto was able to take in all of his features for the first time. He realized that the redhead had long, dark eyelashes, just like a girl, flawless skin and that the black rim around his eyes wasn't just all make-up. Strange boy. Apparently being even younger than him and yet using make-up.

Not before it was dark outside Naruto cursed himself. He didn't know where Gaaras room was and taking him to his room was out of question. Usually the redhead wouldn't let anyone touch him, it was a miracle that the petite boy rested snug against his chest now, Naruto didn't want to freak him out with waking up in the same bed. He chuckled silently. Though he accepted Gaaras moods willingly, he still clung to his life.

While thinking about his options, Naruto noticed the boy was even lighter and skinnier than the last time he touched him. He remembered to never have seen him eating before. Just drinking coffee. Was he even allowed to drink coffee? Naruto didn't have parents, but he heard Shikamaru complaining - he didn't like the black mixture, so he didn't really understand it - about his mom not allowing him to drink coffee at home often enough. Gaaras family must … He remembered. No one cared about this child.

Make him eat something would be hard. Naruto also didn't eat in the greenhouse, it was an unwritten law to not eat anything there - Gaara placed a well-directed punch in Narutos stomach when he tried -, but at least he went to dinner in the dorms. Gaara didn't, he sat in the greenhouse even hours after dinner time. Not at good at all for a child. Wanted he to stay undersized his whole life?

Wincing at the memory of the result for his last try to bring something to eat to the greenhouse, Naruto decided he had to change something about the eating habits of his little friend.

As it was his only option, Naruto stayed the whole night in the greenhouse with him in his lap, eventually falling asleep. The next morning he was alone.

Naruto knew, he would be ill after the stay at the greenhouse, but he didn't thought about the cold staying for two whole weeks. In contrast to him, Gaara was totally fine after the first day. The redhead was back to his usual self, but didn't startle and tense anymore every time Naruto bumped against him accidentally. All in all he seemed more … balanced. As if all he needed was a punching-bag that he could beat up from time to time. He even started to talk back sometimes. His answers were still short, but at least he reacted to Naruto at all. To his utmost surprise, the redhead sometimes even gave a caring look to one of the not so well doing cactuses.

Those last two weeks Naruto didn't stop about thinking how he could bring the redhead to eat something. Then a simple fact hit his mind.

"Gaara …?" he started, not knowing how to propose his idea to the withdrawn child. The redhead didn't react, but he was listening to him now. By now Naruto knew, though Gaara wanted him to speak, he didn't listen always. One of his quirks. Yet, whenever he called the boy by his name, he listened. "You know, in two weeks is Christmas. You planned anything yet?" Naruto mumbled, a bit embarrassed. Why was he blushing now? It wasn't as if he asked the boy beside him to go on a date or anything like that. Thinking about that, he hoped Sakura hadn't ask Sasuke out yet. He had to make his move there soon, too.

The redhead looked at Naruto and shook his head.

"What about we two make our own party then?" Naruto proposed, giving Gaara one of his best smiles. Gaaras head snapped up and he couldn't miss the excited look he had for the fraction of a moment when their eyes met. Then the redhead averted his eyes to the ground and looked rather sad.

Though everyone said the boy wasn't showing any emotions at all, Naruto knew better. Yes, he was hard to read. Really hard. But by now he was able to understand at least basic emotions. Sometimes he even had the feeling, everyone exaggerated while trying to share their emotions with the whole world.

"What's up?" Naruto broke himself out of his musings.

"I've never really celebrated Christmas …" the redhead whispered shy, his eyes still fixated on the ground.

"Mh, why not? Don't nearly everyone celebrate Christmas nowadays, regardless of their religion?" Before Naruto knew what he did, he asked Gaara about his family again. He tensed and shut his eyes squeeze in expectation for the hit that would follow, but nothing happened. Witch caution he slowly opened his eyes. Maybe the redhead just wanted to look at his fearful eyes. Sometimes Gaara was a real sadist, despite his young age.

But he didn't. The petite boy just sat there, looking even more fragile than ever before. So talking about his family did hurt him in the end. "No, it's just me. Today I don't care anymore. But when I was small …" Gaara explained with a low voice before trailing off.

Being even smaller than he is? And on top of that a child which don't care about Christmas? Gaara had stopped and Naruto knew he wouldn't say any more. Naruto didn't want to provoke his luck and ask further, when the redhead wanted to talk, he would talk. "Don't worry!" he tried to cheer Gaara up, again sending off one of his best smiles, "You don't have to do anything special at all! Just spend some time with me and eat the cake I'll buy - by the way, is there anything special you like?"

Gaara just shook his head. What a screwed up childhood he must had have.

…

Heading back from the bakery in Konoha, he checked his to-do list in his mind. Sadly Sakura had already made plans with Ino, but he wanted at least to have a nice and well-planned day with Gaara.

Naruto didn't took the opportunity to leave the campus very often. His home was the school and he had no one to visit. The monthly allowance for orphans like him was nearly nonexistent, but he was happy that he didn't need to pay for school due to the orphan-program they run at the green leaf, and still have even at least a little bit money for a few things.

After buying the cake he still had some money and bought a little present for Gaara. Content with himself and the world he returned to his home. Tomorrow was the big day.

…

The note stuck at his door.

_'Naruto Uzumaki,  
as soon as you're reading this come to the headmasters office.'_

He feared some of the pranks he did last year were finally uncovered. But in comparison to what happened it was nothing.

_"Naruto, there's someone who wants to care of you. You know, usually once an orphan enters our institution, we stop searching families for them. But since he said, he was a good friend of your father and was able to proof that fact, I think we can make an exception here. He's sad he didn't make note about himself earlier, but it appeared that he didn't know about your whereabouts till now. Anyhow, he's living in another town and wants you to join him there. I also think it will be to your best when you're able to leave Konoha for now. He even prepared everything for you already. You're inscribed at their local school and you have a full furnished room in his house. He awaits you tomorrow at 7 a.m. at the schools gate."_

With this words Tsunade-obaasan - how he called her just when she wasn't present, though she didn't hit him as hard as Gaara did, she was still a explosive women - dismissed him.

He looked at the cake that was standing on his table, feeling an unbearable pain rising in his chest.

When he walked to the gate the next morning it started to snow again. He didn't wear a jacket. He wanted to feel the cold bite him. It was as if every snowflake that landed on his skin was cutting a part of him off.

* * *

Edited 08/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	5. Chapter 4: Memories

**A/N: **I just can't be that cruel q_q

Okay, this chapter may be hard for some people. It won't be just peace, love and chocolate anymore.  
(Uh, don't know if that's right so. In German there's a prase "Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen!", what's literally "Peace, joy, pancake!" and means something like everything is nice and you don't care of bad aspects because the good ones are more striking. I looked for a synonym and found this, but somehow I got the feeling it's still wrong ...)

Okay, enough talk, let's get started.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Memories**

Naruto had never seen a photo of his father or mother before coming to 'uncle' Jiraiyas place.

On the chimney in the living room were at least a dozen of photos of them. He was somehow baffled to see his blonde hair, his blue eyes and his distinctive smile looking back at him, just in an older face. One of the photos showed a little family at an hospital, exhausted parents proud looking at their new born baby and Jiraiya with a broad grin behind them. _His_ parents … Even then he already had the marks on his cheeks, Naruto noticed.

He stood in front of the photos for more than an hour before the old man tried to start a conversation. They didn't talk much up till then due to Narutos bad mood, though they needed the whole day to arrive here by car. Apparently Naruto looked better now. At least he felt a bit better. His eyes didn't hurt anymore, though his stomach still clamped when he thought about the redhead sitting alone in the greenhouse.

"Do you know where you name comes from?" the white-haired man asked, also looking at the photos. Nevertheless he saw Naruto shaking his head out of the corner of his eye.

"My first novel. Your father red it and told me, whenever he would have a child, he wanted it to be like the hero of this story. His name was Naruto." Naruto didn't say anything. All, what happened in the last 30 hours, was too much to take at once. "Want to see your room?" Jiraiya asked him with a hopeful look. "I dare to say it's a masterpiece! It has to be since it took me over twelve years to set it up. You'll like it."

…

Just as Jiraiya said, his room was awesome. Located at the first floor of the small house it was a roof room.

There was a loft bed with a couch beneath, which you could also use as a bed. On the opposite wall stood a huge desk with a small computer on it and a comfy chair right beside. In one corner was a table with four chairs and the last corner was empty. Jiraiya told him he didn't knew what particular hobbies Naruto had, so he left this part of the room empty for his requests. Even though everything had a frog-related pattern on it, the room was still just … awesome.

But the best part was the huge glass wall with a door in its middle, that was there instead of a wall behind the desk. Leaving the room through the glass-door you were on terrace from which a stairway leaded you down into the big garden. Looking behind the few trees in the moonlit garden, Naruto saw a small lake. Just when his eyes hit the dark water he felt a broad grin rise on his face.

Jiraiya leaned to him and whispered, "The garden is directly connected to the lake. Our private beach, if you want to say it this way." Narutos eyes grew wide in excitement and he suddenly jumped at the big man, hugging his belly tight and still grinning like a fool. Jiraiya startled, but then relaxed and patted Narutos head.

In the back of his head he thought about Gaara. Him sitting right now between the cactuses with wet cheeks. It hurt like hell. Kids shouldn't be crying. But he didn't want to let Jiraiya down because of his moods.

…

Getting along in his new school was harder than getting along with the old man.

Yet on his first day they had to call for Jiraiya because Naruto bashed someone. His 'uncle', how he called himself also in front of his new teacher, explained everything and so luckily there weren't any consequences for now.

Naruto didn't understand why everyone was so upset about his little struggles with his classmates. The only subject of his new schedule, that at least somehow satisfied his needs, was 'P.E.'. Though it was a cheap rip-off to what they did back at the green leaf. He thought that the other kids would think the same like him and that some little spar from time to time was what they all needed. He needed it. Sitting all day long in the classroom made him antsy.

After the first week Jiraiya looked more tired and even older than before. Naruto realized, he was the reason.

If it meant to not disappoint the old man anymore, he would play after their rules.

…

One day, when he wasn't able to fell asleep, he sneaked into the living room at night. Jiraiya was still awake, brooding over one of his books in his workroom. His training back at the green leaf came in handy while sneaking past the just half closed sliding door.

He hoped, the old man wouldn't be angry for him being still wide awake. He searched for the photo of his whole family. Pushing it against his chest like a treasure, he hurried to his room. Back in his realm, he sat on the couch and looked at the photo, making a mental note to himself to ask Jiraiya for a copy.

They seemed so … happy. Proud. What went wrong? He didn't dare to ask. Though Jiraiya tried to hide it, he knew it hurt him. Looking at the photos, looking at the boy who looked like a copy of his father. Once Jiraiya told him, he already knew his father, when he was the same age as Naruto was now. He never had children, but Minato, Narutos father, was like a son to him.

When Naruto felt the heaviness of his eyes also fighting down his consciousness, the old man knocked at his door. Naruto jumped and tried to hide the photo as soon as possible under the covers of his bed before mumbling a "come in". Though it was his house, Jiraiya never came into Narutos room uninvited. Something about privacy and being a teenager, he once explained.

Jiraiya neither looked angry nor sad, but worried while he walked to Naruto and dropped himself beside him on the couch. "Can't sleep too, huh?" he asked the boy. Naruto shook his head. No one said a word for minutes.

"Back then your mum was a famous priestess at a shrine in Konoha. That time the three of us lived there." He stopped. Apparently he was fighting his emotions. "There was a man. I don't know why, but he held a grudge against the shrine. Not particular against your mum, but as she was the priestess … He summoned a demon to attack and kill her. He succeeded, but was also killed. With the help of your likewise deadly wounded father, she was able to seal the demon before it destroyed the whole village. You need to know, a demon must be sealed in a living being. When the host dies too soon after the sealing, it's set free again. Your mum and your dad were to die soon. They thought I also was already dead, but I wasn't. Most of the blood on me wasn't my own, the demon just hit me hard on the head. I lay there on the ground, fighting unconsciousness, not able to give any sign of live. I remember their last words too well … I'm sorry. It shouldn't be you." His voice cracked. Jiraiya loosed his voice more and more as he kept on apologizing. Naruto saw that his cheeks were wet. He slipped close to the big man and hugged him caring.

The next day a copy of the photo he had taken last night stood on the chimney.

…

One week after his arrival at his new home, he had tried to contact Gaara. He wanted to compensate for his behavior. It hit him like one of the redheads punches, when he realized he didn't knew much about him. Just his first name and that he was from Suna. Being a vessel for a demon wasn't recorded usually, of course.

In the end was just able to contact Sakura after some months. Jiraiya was able to help him, when he told him her last name, though he kept on telling Naruto he should find friends at his new school too. It didn't make him as happy as it should have. To say, she was his crush! But all he could think about now was the child he left behind all alone, and he couldn't ask Sakura for doing up for his inability to find the right words.

He called her home at a weekend. At first she was yelling at him, calling him a bastard, good-for nothing, traitor and much more. Her yelling turned into crying. After hearing her sobbing curses for about half an hour, he was able to proper talk to her.

_"Where the hell are you? No one knows anything! And the teachers won't say a thing, are just talking something about privacy and that they are not allowed to tell us anything."_

"Uhm, well, I was kinda … adopted," he answered sheepishly, the last word came only hesitant.

_"Adopted? I know, you're an orphan, but don't they take those, who enter the green leaf, out of the register?" _sheasked with a doubtful tone.

"Hmh. He knew my parents and searched for me all this time," he said happy grinning, "but he was in coma when they took me. He said he always searched for my father's name, since my mum took his name at their marriage. But somehow they made a mistake at writing my birth certificate and wrote down her old name, leaving the spot for my father's name empty. Did you know there are a lot of orphanages in Konoha? … I didn't believe it myself first, but then he showed me at least 20 bundles of registers, files, photos and so on. Plus, he said, most orphanages weren't really cooperative. They wouldn't give out names or birthdates of their fosterlings, just photos and ages, so he had to search for me photo by photo. When he didn't find me in the actual registers, he searched through all years lists until he finally found me. My resemblance to my father came in really handy here."

_"How do you know he isn't an imposter?"_ Sakura said, her voice calm and stern. Since when cared she so much for him? Not that he didn't like it, but it was somewhat suddenly.

"You didn't see the photos. I look like a mini version of my father. And do you remember the marks on my cheeks? The ones that look like whiskers? There's a photo of all four of us here. I didn't recognize myself at first until I saw my whiskers on the mite the woman in the photo hold in her arms." He couldn't fight his voice getting soft at the image in his head.

They continued to talk for hours. Naruto noticed he didn't ever talk to Sakura that long before. Did she miss him already? He didn't mind making himself hopes. One day he would go back to Konoha.

In the end he was even able to wrench a promise from her.

…

"Hey, Sakura-chan …" he said pouting, protracting her name.

_"What's up, Naruto? You call me that just when something's up … And this tone don't suit you at all!" _They were on really good terms by now, even better than when he still was in Konoha. Maybe not talking with her every day helped their relationship.

Naruto hold up the photo she sent him. It was a nice group photo of his circle of friends. Except for one person. He missed a bright red color in that photo."The photo …" He didn't knew how to say Sakura. He didn't want to let her down. She didn't like the redhead at all.

_"Hm? Was it damaged? I can send you another copy if you want to,"_ she asked in a casual tone.

"No, that's not the point. But, you know …"

_"Spit it out."_

"What about Gaara?"

Silence.

_"You want me dead, right?"_ she deadpanned.

"No, no, no! It's just … I know he's difficult, but he got his reasons. And I got him to warm up a bit … I just want to see how he looks now, after I'm gone. You sure remember how I turned your invitation for shopping down?" - an affirmative sound came through the phone - "It was just he freaked out every time I wasn't there without telling him. Wait, say nothing! Let me explain! To be honest, I think he somehow … liked me. And wasn't able to show it in any other way. So _please_, Sakura-chan … Get me a photo of him. I don't care if it's shot from far away or a window or so. I just want to see he isn't dead."

Sakura took some time to answer. _"You owe me one, Naruto."_

…

It wasn't even shoot from far away or a window, like he suggested.

Gaara didn't glare, what Naruto utmost surprised, while looking exactly at the camera, his expression somehow sad. Though maybe Naruto was the only person who was able to notice the subtle expression in the child's face.

He just stood there in his usual black clothing, the same messy red spikes as always, in one hand holding a paper-cup and the other in his pocket. He wore a tight t-shirt over a high-collared long-sleeved mesh-shirt and the usual spiked collar. His oversized shorts rested way too far down on his hips for a child. Several loose sitting belts, which were fixed in place by just one belt loop, crossed his lap. Black-red striped over-knee socks and unlaced combat boots completed the outfit. In the background were some mellow trees, which just underlined the contrast of his red hair, pale skin and dark clothing even more. As much as he thought about him looking odd in the beginning, by now it was just 'Gaara' to Naruto and completely normal.

Sakura did a great job with this.

At the same time the photo scared him. Yes, he didn't looked dead yet from his outer appearance, but he was even more skinny, maybe in a critical state by now. 'When he collapses they'll bring him to an hospital and force-feed him,' Naruto calmed himself down. But the thing that set him up most were his eyes. The sparkle was missing. They looked as if some part of him had died.

He was worried sick about the redhead, but he couldn't ask Sakura for more help. Together with the photo came a notice. _"You really owe me one! One day he was really peaceful, so I decided to take this rare opportunity. After I took the photo, he grabbed the camera out of my hand, tossed it at the ground and stomped on it till it was just scrap. I'm happy the memory card wasn't broken too."_

Shortly after their contact broke off for some time due to Narutos constant need to catch up to the curriculum. He missed his talks with Sakura, but making Jiraiya proud of him was more important to him now.  
He wasn't able to bring their conversations down to Gaara ever again.

…

By summer Naruto invited some of his new classmates over to him. He still wasn't on normal terms with most of them and wasn't peeved at them, knowing well his first impression wasn't good at all. But to make Jiraiya happy he would do everything, and for now he wanted Naruto to find friends. At least a few accepted his invitation.

There was a blond guy, Deidara, who was always talking about arts and exploding things. Sometimes he was annoying, but he was able to catch up to Narutos liveliness. Not to mention Naruto loved the struggles they had from time to time, though they weren't really comparable to anything he had back in Konoha. Deidara tugged along his best friend, how he called him, though Sasori apparently didn't share this thought. Somehow the teenager reminded him far of Gaara. Maybe because he also came from Suna and had red hair, though it came not even close to the brightness of Gaara's.

Then there was a boy named Kisame, who invited himself over after hearing Narutos house was connected to a lake. He seemed to like swimming.

The last group consisted of a girl, Konan, with blue hair, which constantly folded paper into awesome little figurines, an orange-haired boy, Yahiko, which was simply spoken kind and apparently her boyfriend, and a shy red-haired boy, which's hair color reminded Naruto somehow at his mother's, who was named Nagato.

…

Soon Naruto was on good terms with those who came over to him in summer. Nagato was shy and calm in the beginning, but Naruto preferred his companionship most. They had the same ideals and hopes for the future, and by time he was just as lively as Naruto in his presence, though most people wouldn't admit that as a positive turn. He came over on regular terms by now. Nagato tried to hide it, but Naruto was good in reading pained persons by now, and this boy had problems at home.

One day, when he stayed over like so often, Naruto came back to his room and saw Nagato staring at the three photos on his desk.

"Anything wrong?" Naruto asked caring his friend.

"N-no … I was just wondering who those people are. I know you moved here just by the end of last year, but you don't talk at all about what was before. I'm just curious."

Naruto pointed a finger at the photo of his family. "That's old man Jiraiya, as you may see, just a bit younger, my father, my mother and me. My parents died shortly after I was born."

"… I'm sorry … I didn't want to …"

"You don't have to be sorry. I didn't know them. Sure, it would have been great to know them or even grow up with them, but it is, as it is. At least" - he pointed at the group photo of his fellow green leafs - "I got to know them by this twist. This are Hinata, Kiba, Shino, TenTen, Neji, Lee, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji. All students of Konohas 'Green Leaf'. Sakura and Sasuke were my best friends … And thanks to Sakura I got this photo," he said lovely smiling at the thought of the pink-haired girl.

"And this one?" Nagato nodded at the photo of Gaara, causing Naruto to lose his smile, "he looks like a child, but also as a model for gothic clothing. No one who would spend his time with you," he teased, "or the other way round, I can't imagine you being with him. You're too agile."

Naruto was silent for some moments, tugging his thoughts in the right place. He forced a smile on his lips, but he saw by Nagatos expression it convinced him not at all, so he dropped it again. The boy knew him to well enough by now to tell which of his smiles were forced and which true.

"That's Gaara. He's also one of the leafs. That's how we call ourselves there. To be honest, he's a violent prick. He destroyed Sakuras camera for taking this photo after I begged her to do so. He also send me seeing stars on a regular basis, beat me up for every little thing and when he opened his mouth, which didn't happen as often as he planted his fist in my face, just insults and curses came out. But he got some things in common with me, though it don't seem like it. I don't know why, but despite all of this, around him I was happiest. It was just … being me. The real me. Not trying to impress someone."

Fortunately it was already late and Nagato was sleepy. They went to bed without exchanging much words.  
Naruto wasn't able to sleep most time of the night, his thoughts just swirling around the redhead.

…

There he sat now.  
Exactly one year after he arrived at Jiraiya's. It was Christmas Eve. He thought about this one year and what happened.

But in the end there was just one thought. A red mop of hair, followed by a scar in the form of 'ai' and black framed, shining green eyes.

He still didn't dare to ask Sakura about the boy.

…

Two years passed since he left Konoha.

One day this year there was a wounded red raccoon baby with black rimmed eyes in their garden. He begged Jiraiya to allow him to nurse it. First he wasn't pleased with the idea. But as soon as Naruto said, it reminded him of a certain person back at Konoha, he grinned knowingly and allowed him to do as he pleased.

Nagato moved in due to nearly been beaten to death by his father. Jiraiya used his contacts, so no one made a ruckus. Apparently Nagatos father was even glad that the boy leaved his house.

Jiraiya turned down all of Narutos begs to visit Konoha during summer vacation. "Your thoughts can't stay at that city forever," he said.

…

Year three.

Back then Naruto didn't understand Jiraiyas look, but recently he asked him, how the girl with the short red hair on the photo in his room was like. Naruto blushed. The old man thought Gaara was a girl and that he had a crush on 'her'! But he didn't say anything. Let him believe it, he didn't want to let go of Aka, how he named his little sweetheart.

Maybe Jiraiya was just worrying because the 16-year old teenager had no girlfriend. Luckily the perverted old man didn't know about his crush on Sakura. He still talked from time to time with her on the phone. She sounded more mature by now, but he didn't ask for a new photo. He wanted to surprise himself when he came back to Konoha.

…

Year four.

Yahiko died in a car crash. That day Jiraiya allowed Naruto and Nagato to drink sake for the first time. He drunk until he didn't remember anything anymore.

Nagato tried his best to back Konan up. She had a mental breakdown. Nagato nearly killed himself as he wasn't able to help Konan. He loved her since he first met her, he told Naruto when he found him one night with gashed wrists on the bench at the lake. The boy changed, was most times moody and locked himself up in his room.

…

Year five.

_If _there was something to know about Gaara, Sakura didn't want to talk about it. The incident with the camera wasn't an issue anymore, but it would feel awkward to ask about him _now_.

One day Sakura called him and explained under sobs and cries of pain, Sasuke ran away a week after his 18th birthday. Likewise Konan she also had a mental breakdown. He called her every day for about a month before she was able to go to school again.

What happened to all those who were dear to him?

…

Year six.

Konan was back in life. She and Nagato made a nice couple but he still hesitated to touch and kiss her.

He graduated from high school together with them.

Though he would miss his friends, Naruto was finally able to go back to Konoha.

* * *

**A/N2: **What do you think will happen, when Naruto comes back to Konoha? Who will he meet first: Sakura or Gaara? How will that person react?  
Is our beloved redhead even still in Konoha? What does he think about Naruto?  
(And *cough cough* what do you think, up to now, who will be uke and who seme? xP)

* * *

Edited 08/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	6. Chapter 5: Nightmarish daydreams - A gap

**A/N:** Yeah, chapter 4 was a really fast one … From time to time I think I'm too fast, other times I think I'm too slow. Of course I could have write a few chapters about Narutos life with Jiraiya, put more behind his new friends, Aka and so on … But somehow I had the feeling to disappoint you with this. Maybe, some time when I'm done with this, I'll rewrite the story (uh, at least have to rewrite Prologue and Chapter1, maybe 2, one day ~_~ They're crappy) and put more time in this.  
BUT be sure, there's a thought about separating them for that long time. I like to confuse and fluster Naruto *kekeke* You'll see. Not in this chapter and not in the next one. Maybe in 7, but I'm not sure yet.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Nightmarish daydreams. A gap**

_He's leaving the shower. His hair is still damp when he leaves his room. It's snowing, but he doesn't care. He just wants to go back to the greenhouse as fast as possible. He's rushing over the still sleepy campus. He knows what will happen and he needs to prevent it. _

_He's running, but he's not moving. He won't be there in time. Again._

_He's standing in the greenhouse now. There's something on the ground. There, where he's usually sitting._

_He's crouching beside it. Confused. Angry. He doesn't care that it's clearly written all over his face._

_He opens the letter. _

"Sorry"

_Naruto won't come back again. He didn't make it in time and stop the blond. _

_He was away just an hour._

…

Gaara yanked out of his daydream. He still wasn't able to sleep, but whenever he rested now, unsteady images and memories appeared in his mind. He looked at his clock, seeing it was late enough to get ready for the day. This time the shower was real, not a memory, the hot water was actually streaming down his body.

He had those dreams on a regular basis. Though his scar didn't hurt anymore, today his chest did. After so many years, again … He rested his head against the cold tiles and waited for the feeling that narrowed his lungs to disappear.

He left the bathroom still naked and a bit damp, toweling his hair. He liked to have his own apartment. It's so much more comfortable than the shared bathroom back at the green leaf. While walking back to his bedroom he flipped the TV in the living room on. The anchor told the day would be a sunny and nice day, hot for late June. After choosing something decent to wear, he turned to the kitchen and turned his attention to his drug. Coffee.

It was still too early to go out, so he just sat in his couch, vacantly listening to the anchor talking about a robbery last night, and sipped his coffee. His gaze fell to the hairpin on the coffee table.

…

_A letter, a white box and a cactus were in the greenhouse._

_No Naruto._

_He waited for him for hours. _

_Curious he opened the white box. A pie with cream and strawberries._

_He waited again._

_He never ate cake before. If Naruto would be angry if he started without him?_

_Time elapsed._

_He tasted a single strawberry with some cream. It was delicious. _

_It was dark outside by now. The cake was gone, his own fault for being late and depositing the cake here forehand._

_Gaara lay down on his back. Usually time wouldn't go by so slow. And it wasn't like Naruto to be late._

_He opened the letter. He didn't know what to think._

_'Sorry'_

_Nothing more. Just an hairpin._

_He looked at the cactus. It had bright red flowers._

_The hairpin adorned a red heart with an orange outline._

…

He didn't remember what happened after that. Everything was black. He heard someone calling his name. When he opened his eyes, he saw his brothers brown eyes, not blue. He wanted to close his eyes again, but his brother shook him brutal.

"Don't you dare to die now!" It was more worrying than a threat.

They said he wasn't in his room for two days before they went searching for him. They were sorry they didn't start earlier, but knowing his moods, it could also have been that he just spend a night somewhere else again. When they found him lying on the ground in the greenhouse, they feared him being dead. But he still breathed, he wasn't dead. Not yet.

Some days later he heard students whispering about Narutos disappearance while looking at him when he was out to get more coffee. It was just as if the ground swallowed Naruto.

The final blow came three months later. Sakura, he remembered her name by now, announced, Naruto had been adopted on Christmas Eve, to their friends. They called it a little wonder.

Gaara called it being left alone in hell on earth.

He didn't want to drink or eat anything at this time. The _idea_ his big brother had back then in the greenhouse was somehow appealing to Gaara. His siblings had to struggle him down several times to make him at least drink something. Just like his demon didn't devour his sanity, when he was unconscious after the fox left him, his sand didn't react anymore, neither on its own, nor on Gaaras will. He tried to refuse the force-feed, ran away every time he saw his siblings, but his body was weakened.

After some time he felt the pink-haired girl stalking him with a camera. When she didn't stop, he let her take a photo of him. He knew it would be for Naruto, since their little club posed last time for a group photo.  
But he would let neither her nor him let go off so easily. He somewhat posed for her, hoping her underdeveloped brain would get the hint, and waited. As soon as she got a photo that made her happy, he rushed at her, yanking the camera out of her hand and crushed it under his feet. It was a relieving feeling. Not as good as planting his fist in Narutos face, but still good.

From time to time he heard some news about Naruto. There were also moments, when he wanted to ask stalker-girl about the blond. But every time, he even just looked in her direction, she ran away. A few times he tried to chase after her, until their club cut off his way. As much as he was accustomed to Narutos presence, socializing still wasn't his good point, and a crowd of people was the last thing he wanted to face. Soon he stopped to point his ears out for the talk about Naruto.

He didn't know why, but the day he heard about Narutos adoption and when he realized, Naruto hadn't told him and won't do, something deep inside him died. Trying to revive this part of himself made him weak. He felt like a little kitten without claws. Being weak was no option, so he let go of the part that held on to the blond.

Maybe his siblings noticed his change, maybe they were even worried. However, they started to treat him different. They _cared_.

He didn't care enough _anymore_ to keep on shrugging them off.

Kankuro tried several times to entertain him with one of his dolls or a puppet show. One day there was even a doll sitting on his bed, a red ribbon tied around her neck. Sadly it wasn't one of those Kankuro smuggled into the school, one with a blade inside. Temari … Was just there for him, if you wanted to say it this way. Sometimes she was pushy, forced him to spend his time with her and to eat something, but Gaara learned to get along with her by time.

Time flew by just like the snow melted the day he first saw it and tried to catch it with his hands. After years he didn't even remember passing, he found the hairpin again. His chest ached when he remembered the blond kid. So cute after all. His sun while sitting between cactuses.

He wouldn't be able to forget or forgive him. Why not preserving the pain and prevent himself from making the same fault again? From this day on the hairpin was his second memento.

…

He left his apartment.  
What would Naruto be like now? Did he change a lot? Gaara didn't really change. He was still the same. People told him he was friendlier now. Though he couldn't tell if they were right.  
About his moods … He wasn't violent anymore. Together with Naruto his urge to cause pain slowly disappeared.

He wiped the blond out of his mind for now and went downstairs.

* * *

Naruto left the bus. He stretched his back and let out a relieved sigh, sitting all night long in a bus was not good.

The wind blew through his hair and he took a deep breath. But it was good being back.

He took just a few things with him and to be honest, he didn't knew where to stay for now, maybe a hotel for the first week. But at least he was back in Konoha. In his bag were just some clothes and his seven photos. Those photos were somewhat his treasure. The one of his family. A more recent one of Jiraiya. Aka sniffing at flowers. The group photo of his fellow green leafs. A photo of Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, Yahiko, Konan, Nagato and him, shot at the lake in the summer before the accident. Konan and Nagato cuddling on the bench at the lake, the sunset in the background dyeing the cloudy sky red and orange. And Gaara.

He wondered if the redhead was still the same. He was still the same.

Well, he was taller and you saw that he was an adult now, but he still was the same. He still had his bright yellow hair, which resisted gravitation and stuck in all directions. His skin was still lightly tanned, maybe a bit more than when he was 12. He still worked out regularly to get not too soft after leaving his green leafs, and of course he still had the same blue eyes and the marks on his cheeks. Naruto mused if Gaara, if he still lived in Konoha, would be able to recognize him.

Somehow he hoped the redhead was still as cute and small as he was back then. On the other hand he hoped for him to grew at least a bit. A teenager caged in the body of a child was not funny at all. He must be about 16 now …

Thinking back, Naruto didn't even understand anymore why he was so feared. Yeah, he was a little violent from time to time, but he looked just too adorable! Gaara was somehow like Aka, sometimes biting and scratching, but nothing serious in the end, somehow shy and cute when excited.

He recalled the image of him that stood for six years on his desk and sighed. He still didn't like the look in his eyes. Naruto thought about Jiraiyas comment once again, he didn't like to admit it, but if Gaara would be a girl, he might have fallen for 'her'. Just too loveable.

His mood turned more somber. Maybe he even didn't live in Konoha anymore. To say, he neither saw nor heard about him for five and a half years. And even if he did - how should he approach him? 'Hi, I'm sorry I didn't tell you then, but I was adopted. Friends?' No way.

Naruto strolled vacant through the streets of his native town. The town changed in his absence. Where the bakery was back then, was a café called 'Oasis'. He puckered his brows, he liked the cake they sold there.

He had passed the café for some time and tried to remember the way to the fountain, where he wanted to meet up with Sakura. She had been happy, when he told her he would come back, and had already told him, that her hair is shorter now, so he wouldn't be too shocked. Other than that, he only knew she still had the same character, and he still loved her. Maybe, if everything turned to his favor once in his life, he was able to stay at Sakura's until he found an apartment for his own. Not that he minded staying with her longer, but he didn't want to bother her more than necessary. Enough space was important for their relationship.

While he was musing about his future with Sakura, he almost didn't hear the rustling of clothes and the typical sound of someone sprinting behind him. Wait. It was way to gentle for a normal sprinting person. And it was fast.

He stopped and snapped his head over his shoulder, just to have something hit is cheek with full power, pulling him from his feet. Naruto landed on his bottom and rubbed his cheek while picking himself up. He hadn't felt such a hit in years. But the angle was too high.

Naruto wanted to start complain at whoever just hit him. No sound left his parted lips when he looked at the other man's face. He wasn't sure if he should believe his eyes.

Those green eyes, flaming with anger. No one else had those eyes. Again a hit, but this time not that hard and against his chest. Almost desperate.

Unbelieving he stared at the tall man in front of him that glared back down at him. He was about a head taller than Naruto. Besides being taller, the stature was still the same, skinny. His hair was a bit longer than then, but still messy. Naruto was surprised to see the hairpin he bought almost six years ago, holding back a tendril of blood-red hair, which would cover his scar otherwise. His face looked more mature, Naruto guessed, girls would call him handsome. His eyes were still black rimmed, but softer, it fitted him even more than when he was a child. On the same side of his face like the scar a small silver ring was pierced through his lower lip. Except for his flushed cheeks his skin was just as pale as it used to be. His dress style was also still the same, heavy and loose fitting combat boots, drainpipe jeans, mesh-shirt and a slim t-shirt, all in black, though the collar was missing.

Despite, or maybe because of breathing heavy from running and anger, he looked gorgeous. Narutos heart made a little jump. Why the hell did his heart jump?! The man's gaze went soft. Eventually he let his head fall to his chest and turned around, slowly walking away. Naruto needed a moment to realize what just happened and that he was about to fuck up a second time. He took some steps and reached his arm out. He faltered for a moment.

The redhead wasn't cute anymore, but dangerous sexy despite being a guy.

Then he clutched the shirt. "Gaara?"

* * *

There was some time in his life when his heart skipped a beat every time he saw a person with blond hair. Now not anymore. But this certain shade of yellow in the crowd this morning made him startle. He smirked sad to himself and opened the door to his shop. When he was inside he turned the sign with the shop hours to 'Open'.

Just in this moment the blond had to look in his direction. Apparently he didn't see him. But Gaara saw _him_. Stunning blue eyes, slightly tanned skin and whisker marks. His golden fox.

_"DAMN. BLOODY HELL."_

Why did he have to show up today? Just after he had one of this dreams again. He turned his gaze around as if the furniture of his shop would give him any answers. Eventually he realized what he just did. And what he just saw. Suddenly a wave of anger overruled him. All those feelings, after gone missing for years, were back.

_"Hit him, beat him up, into a pulp, hurt him. KILL HIM."_

He decided to run for the blond, flipped the sign again and closed the door behind him. He almost wasn't able to lock the door up since he started to shake like hell in anticipation. This wasn't funny. And Naruto had to pay for it. Damn, he hadn't been violent for years now. It wasn't like himself, but it made live easier.

Gaara spotted the blond easily in the crowd and run after him. Luckily he turned his head just in time to let his fist hit the blonds face. Naruto still hadn't seen him.

When the fox directed his gaze to him, he just stood there, gasping, mouth open like a fish. Gaara didn't know what he should think about him. He took in his features in a brief moment. He was still as cute as he was back then despite the lurid orange shirt.

But either, Naruto didn't recognize Gaara and was now scared, or he didn't want to see him. Both leaded to the same result, Naruto changed. Gaara was disappointed. Not that he really had hopes beforehand, but there was a spark glowing in the dark. Not yet smothered. He bumped Narutos chest. Maybe he was just sleepy and slow. Nothing happened. He took in the blonds features a second time, trying to memorize them as good as possible, before he turned to walk back, finally opening his shop for the daily routine.

After some steps he was suddenly stopped by a tugging on his shirt.

"Gaara?"

He didn't know what to do. So he hadn't recognize him after all. Gaara brushed of the hand that still clutched to his shirt and restarted his walk. Naruto appeared in the corner of his eye. Gaara gave him a glare, his face blank. The blond looked worried.

"What's up?" Naruto asked, his brows puckered in sorrow.

The last thread ripped. "YOU KNOW EXACTLY _'WHAT'S UP'_! I'VE BEEN WAITING FIVE AND A HALF FUCKING YEARS FOR YOU PRICK AND WHAT DO YOU? YOU DON'T SEE ME WHILE WALKING PAST AND STARING AT ME. YOU DON'T HEAR ME COMING AT YOU ANYMORE. YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKING GET WHO I AM WHEN I'M STAYING IN FRONT OF YOU!" he raged at him, coming closer and closer, his bode tense and his hands clenched into fists. "And last: you're not the same anymore," he hissed at him when their faces were apart just some centimeters. His fingernails drew blood from his skin.

A fist made acquaintance with his face. "Sorry that I didn't want to make a commotion on the shopping street in broad daylight. There were reasons why I wasn't able to contact you. When you would use your head instead of your fists at least once, you would knew them by now. And just to your information: You don't look like five years passed, but more like ten! Sorry it took me some time to compare the picture of the cute, adorable Gaara I knew, with the you now!" Naruto shouted back snippy.

This time Naruto turned his back to Gaara and continued his way.

* * *

Naruto turned around and leaved Gaara to let him live his own life, in which he apparently wasn't welcomed.

Suddenly he felt two arms snare him and tugging him against a flat chest.

* * *

**A/N: **Like always, let me know what you think about it. ;3

* * *

Edited 08/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	7. Chapter 6: Two demons

**A/N:**  
To answer the question from reviews: no, Naruto and Sakura aren't in a relationship as lovers (yet?). I dunno if I may have used the wrong word … In German we use the same translation of 'relationship' for the bond between two lovers and for to say, two people are connected in any positive way (friendship, family and so on), although usually you mean the non-love aspect of the word.  
I wanted to express that Naruto and Sakura have a good friendship, without using the word friendship, since Naruto thinks/hopes of it more than that. But I didn't find any other fitting word, so I used relationship, remembering it from my English class to be as neutral as in German. But then … None of my English teachers was really good xP

Also, sorry for the cliffhanger. Bad habit of me. When I was younger, I ended nearly every chapter of my stories with a cliffhanger and wasn't online for two weeks, or so, afterwards, sometimes … Guess, people hated me then.  
Well, I tried to put not a cliffhanger on this one again. Ending in a rather long chapter …

* * *

**Chapter 6: Two demons (Yellow and red makes orange)**

Being that close to Gaara felt strange. A sweet smell invaded him and red strands constrained his vision. "Gaara?" he asked, worried about the strange behavior of his friend.

"Sorry." Gaara let go off him.

Naruto turned around and saw Gaara walking away. Was it that? The redhead looked over his shoulder. "Can't walk anymore? You wish me to carry you, _kid_?" A smirk adorned his face.

Still dazzled, Naruto wasn't able to protest and just shook his head. He took some fast steps to catch up with him. Gaara guided him to the café, he saw earlier, and opened the door. He closed the door after Naruto came in and went for the counter without turning the sign.

"You sure you don't want to open for customers now?"

Gaara nodded and ordered Naruto sit down at the counter. "You still don't like coffee?" he asked while putting an empty cup in a machine behind him.

"Not really. Just with a lot of sugar and milk when I have to pull an all-nighter," Naruto said sheepishly grinning. Gaara grimaced. "You don't have to do that."

"What?" Gaara took the cup out of the machine again and started to nibble the hot liquid.

"Force yourself to facial expressions. I know you don't like it."

"That way I don't have to speak. Comes in handy when a grandma is flirting with you and you have just insults for her on your tongue."

"Either way I don't get what you're thinking," Naruto stated, looked up at the ceiling and crossed his fingers behind his head, remembering how his first talks with Gaara were. When he looked back at Gaara some short moments later, he leaned on the counter, his head propped on one hand, giving him a dizzying look. He even had put his cup to the side, though it wasn't emptied yet. If Naruto wouldn't know better, he would think Gaara was flirting with him right now.

"Okay, then let my express myself clearly. What happened in those six past years? Tell me everything." The smirk Gaara gave him was turning everything upside down.

"Always I have to talk. You know, your voice is also pretty nice to listening to," Naruto pouted, but started to tell Gaara as much as possible. How he found out about being adopted just the day before Christmas, after buying the cake. How he wasn't able to write down anything decent to explain his situation to Gaara and waited for him in the greenhouse as long as possible. How he realized, he didn't know anything about him and wasn't able to contact him due to the lack of information. At this part Gaara tensed, but finally nodded understanding.

Naruto continued to talk about the awesome house, he lived in for those years, and how much he liked Jiraiya. He also told him about his parents. Though he feared it would hurt his friend, he also told him about Konan, Yahiko and Nagato. How Nagato was beat up at home and spend most of his time with him an Jiraiya, in the end moving in with them. How Yahiko died and Konan wasn't herself anymore. He even told him, how Nagato tried to kill himself. Hesitating he finally told him also about Aka and Jiraiya thinking about Gaara as a girl. The redhead seemed flustered by that misunderstanding.

"Why didn't you just tell him? Aka was already for a year your pet, he wouldn't have thrown him out," he said annoyed.

"C'mon! You know you looked like a girl. And explain your foster father, why the only not-group photo in your room shows a boy you call 'dear', while he's always ranting about assets of well curved woman!"

Gaara averted his eyes. Seemingly he hadn't girlfriend yet, also. Naruto wondered why. By those years he got to know a lot of girls who would throw themselves at Gaara just for his looks. There had to be at least one, he was interested in, and even if it was just physical contact. Going solo through your teenage years wasn't easy, what Naruto could confirm easily. Even Gaara was that much normal, he hoped for his friend.

"And now?" a tender voice pulled Naruto out of his musings.

"Now?"

"You're back in Konoha. You can't go back to the green leaf and you don't have a room."

"I wanted to meet up with Sakura and ask her if I may stay with her for some time … Aaaaah, damn! I wanted to meet up with Sakura!" He fidgeted and searched for a clock.

"Half past 12," the redhead said in a somber tone.

"Puh. If I run I'll may make it in time. Do you mind me leaving my bag here meanwhile?" Naruto pleaded.

Gaaras shook his head silent, his eyes still averted to the ground. Naruto just remembered the possessive trait of Gaara. Seemingly he was able to control it now. Speaking of which, he didn't see the sand anywhere. But now wasn't the time for talking anymore. Waving he rushed out of the door.

Happily he made it in time for his appointment with Sakura. He was surprised to not just meet her, but everyone he called a friend back at the green leaf, except for Sasuke. They all changed a lot in those six years, though no one as much as Gaara did. He was still able to recognize them without much problems.

They tugged him through the whole city and he wasn't able to leave them until it was about one or two in the morning. In the end, he wasn't able to ask Sakura, if he could live with her for some time, he didn't want to rush on her in front of everyone. Naruto sighed and turned back to the café. He hoped, Gaara was still in a good mood and let him at least sleep on a couch or so.

When he came back, all lights were turned off. Of course. He cursed himself for not asking Gaara for his address, again, and kicked a stone on the ground. He wanted to turn and find at least a bench in a park to spend the night on, when the door of the café opened and Gaara shoved himself out, closing it behind him.

"Your bag is already in your room. For now you have to sleep on a couch, I had to improve. Or share my bed." With his last words Gaara looked down at Naruto with the same smirk he had shown the blond this morning and wetted his lips absentminded.

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat. The redhead liked to tease him. He praised the darkness for hiding the blush that raced to his face. Neither of them moved. Gaara had his hands in his pockets and watched intensely at Naruto. Just by now Naruto realized, he was waiting for an answer. He wasn't joking!

"I guess the couch would be nice for now," he said with a dry mouth. This was awkward, he wasn't sure anymore, if he should follow Gaara to his realms.

The redhead chuckled low and looked at the ground between their feet. "Just doing jokes. As if I would let you in my bed. Don't want to have fleas." Gaara turned on his heels and went for a door just beside the café. Not until he gave him an annoyed look over his shoulder, Naruto followed him, too confused how much his friend had change.

Gaaras apartment was spacious. Not as spacious as Jiraiyas house, but still overwhelming for Naruto. "Is the job at the café that profitable? Or how can you afford this living?" he asked while Gaara gave him a short tour.

"You'll see by time."

In the living room, Naruto noticed the huge empty spot. Apparently there was a couch before being moved into another room. "Hey Gaara, it isn't necessary to trouble yourself with me. I would have been also okay with sleeping in the living room."

"I wouldn't." Gaara was back to his minimal answers. Naruto asked himself, if he was the cause of the change of mood of the redhead, and what to do to bring him back to talk with him. He sighed. "Anything wrong?" Gaara asked him. They finally reached 'Narutos' room.

"No … I just wondered why you not considered, I may be staying with Sakura for now. Would have been much easier for you," he tried to make the conversation ongoing and smiled nervous. The room was empty beside the couch standing beneath the window, the back facing the door. A pillow and a blanket were thrown over the back.

"Just some feeling," Gaara shrugged the question off, "Good night. I'll be out early tomorrow."

He left Naruto confused. Why was Gaara so cold now?

* * *

When Naruto left him alone, he spun the sign and opened the café. This day wasn't going to be funny at all. He didn't want to forgive him, but the blond fox had some magical effect on him. He ran his fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp. To be honest, Naruto was right. He wasn't to blame. Still Gaara was mad at him. Soon the first group of chatting girls came and pulled him out of his thoughts.

It was hard to not close the café earlier than usual. He was unsettled the whole day. Not that his customers were considerate and left him alone, as he wanted. In contrast, there were even more customers than usual, since it was a nice warm Saturday, so he wasn't able to make an excuse and close for the day.

The whole day he thought about what would happen, when Naruto came back. He told him, he wanted to meet Sakura. Gaara hadn't seen her for a while, but as much as he knew, they were still good friends. Did he ask her about him at least once? Doesn't seem so, he wouldn't have been so surprised about his spurt otherwise. Maybe he shouldn't have destroy her camera. The girl startled every time she saw him even more than a year later.

Naruto wanted to stay with her … Gaara wouldn't let him. When Naruto came back to get his bag, he would capture his fox. If necessary, he would use the sand, which rested in jars hidden all over his apartment and the café. By time he learned to use it again.

He wanted to wrap Naruto like a gift for himself, tug him into his room and on his bed.

Not until he embraced Naruto this morning, he realized he had this thoughts. His body moved on his own then. When he inhaled the scent, he hadn't smell that strong since he was ill in his first winter in Konoha, the other 'demon' beside Shukaku inside him arose again. One he hadn't felt for years. All the urge to beat the teenager into a pulp was washed away and replaced by a new feeling.

It was hard to restrain himself from snuggling his body against the other male's, nibble at his earlobe and bite him until Naruto screamed. He wanted him, and if he wanted something, he would get it. If necessary with force.

Should he just yank him in his bed like his bustled brain wants? Or ask beforehand? 'Hey Naruto, I want to take you with me to my bed and maybe ravish you. Wanna come up with me to my apartment?' Not a good idea. Though he had to admit, he loved to see the look in Narutos face. His thoughts drifted away.

Naruto lay on his bed, his wrists pinned down above his head with one hand. He looked panicked. Gaara placed a soft kiss against his jar, causing the blond to jerk. His free hand snaked under Narutos shirt. Smooth muscles were trembling under his hand. He lowered his head against the blonds neck and grazed his teeth against the smooth skin, while slowly reinforcing his grip on Narutos wrists with sand. Slowly he sunk his teeth in the soft skin of the man under him.

A clique of young woman watched him while he was absentminded moving around in his workplace and giggled shy when he looked in their direction.

No, no, no, no! Don't think about it. You'll excite yourself too much otherwise and won't be able to stop anymore. Gaara would ask him to share his bed, but also offer his couch. Narutos choice would decide what Gaara was going to do, if he loosed or won against the growing demon.

The more time elapsed without Naruto returning, the more he feared, he just imagined the events of this morning. But Narutos bag was there behind the counter. Finally he was allowed to close the shop.

The couch in his living room … The sleeping teenager would be there every night when he moved from one room to another. Too dangerous. Gaara remembered the blonds sleeping face and knew he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from attacking him in his sleep. He should move the couch to one of the vacant rooms. He took Narutos bag and left a note on the door of the café for Naruto.

The fox sure took his time. He waited for some hours now, lying on the floor of his living room. Was the note not clear enough? 'I'mwaiting for you at my apartment. Next door to the left, last story. The door is open.'No, there wasn't anything to misunderstand. However, Gaara picked himself up, went downstairs, removed the note from the door and snuggled himself in one of the comfy plush-armchairs. He hoped for Sakura, Naruto wasn't already sleeping at her place. Otherwise Gaara wouldn't be able to control what he did to her, when he next saw her.

Eventually the blond appeared again in front of his café, making Gaaras stomach turning upside down in a pleasant manner. Of course his answer to his question was frustrating. Though Naruto hesitated.

Back in his territory with him was almost unbearable. Naruto was at his mercy. If he wanted the blond to stay with him, he wasn't allowed to give in to his desires. Not yet.  
He tried to make the time he spend with Naruto alone as short as possible.

* * *

Something rattled, pulling Naruto out of his sweet sleep. Was Nagato already up? Naruto was still half asleep. He opened his eyes and was greeted by a bright blue sky. Huh …? He wasn't able to see the sky in that angle from his bed. Shifting his weight he tried to sat up, but was interrupted by a paralyzing pain in his back. He decided to wait a few moments until he was awake and collected his thoughts.

Slowly everything came. He wasn't at home with Jiraiya and Nagato anymore. He slept on Gaaras couch, resulting in a stiff neck and back. His memories of the last night came back and he hoped, the redhead was in a better mood now. It rattled again, this time louder and faster. He heard doors banging and again rattling. Nope, no good mood.

Suddenly the knob of his door rattled. He remembered he locked it up out of reflex. Though Jiraiya respected privacy a lot, Nagato forgot to knock before entering a room way too often. The rattling became more intense and was soon followed by a hand banging against the door. Trying to ignore the pain, Naruto stood up. What was going on? Had the redhead bitten his tongue?

"GAA-" a female voice started to call when Naruto flipped the key and opened the door, "- Ra …?" A puzzled, sand-blond woman with four bulky pigtails in a short violet dress stood in front of Naruto. He somehow had the feeling he knew her, but wasn't able to say, who she was. Her lips curled into a nervous smile. "What the hell's going on? Are you alright? That prick" - she looked pondering at the floor and talked more to herself than to Naruto- "… Now he's even kidnapping blonds. I know he takes a liking for them, but going that far …" The shift of her moods was confusing. First nervous, than confused, worried, aggressive and in the end musing. Just WHO was she?

"Uhm … I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto said sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Her eyes snapped at him. "Did he do anything to you? Do you have a blackout? I know, a lot of people fall for his looks when they first see him. But don't let him deceive you. This guy isn't good, for no one. The only thing he can do, is making good coffee."

"Are you talking about Gaara?" Naruto blinked at her. Whoever she was, her reasoning was as incomprehensible as the redheads.

She furrowed angry her brows. "Of course. Who else should I talk about, standing in his apartment?"

"Dunno," Naruto grinned wide and crossed his hands behind his head, "but you forget one big thing about him: his infamous hard hits."

The woman stared at him. "What did you just say?"

"You forgot to mention his liking for beating up people who like him."

Her face went blank and she shook her head as if she didn't want do accept what he just said. "He wasn't violent for years," she said softly, her eyes inhuman wide.

"Uhm, well, but yesterday he seemed to be very pleased with driving his fist into my face," Naruto said pointing with a finger on the bruise in his face.

"So that's the reason he isn't to find anywhere." With those words she collapsed.

…

Naruto searched the whole kitchen for something to eat. Finally he found some strawberries. Together with a glass of water he went back to the woman, which lay where he slept last night.

She smiled faintly at him when he passed her the glass. "Thank you. I think, it was just too much for me. Usually I eat lunch downstairs at the café, but it was closed, so I looked for him at his favorite spots. Sometimes he still has his phases where he don't want to see anyone. Well, Gaara doesn't spend much time at home, so I came to search for him here last. Searching him and then you telling me, he regained his temper, on an empty stomach was just too much for me."

Naruto nodded understanding and offered her the berries. In answer she shook her head. "You don't want to see him when you ate his strawberries." He shrugged and pushed one of the sweet fruits in his mouth, causing the blonde in front of him widen her eyes. "Are you mad? Didn't I just tell you -"

"You did, but Gaara beat me up enough times in my life and I know, he can't kill me that easy."

"Just who the hell are you?" she asked him amazed.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to make your acquaintance." He grinned at her and extended his hand to her.

She didn't take the offered hand, but squinted her eyes at him. "Naruto … That boy that went missing six years ago? No, was adopted like in some bad fairytale?"

"Uhm, well, if you want to say it that way …?" Now Naruto was puzzled. Why was she angry at him? And how did she know about him? Suddenly she jumped up and rushed out of the door. Naruto startled short, but followed her then. She was still at the door, struggling with her shoes. "Did I do something to annoy you?"

"Well," she gave him a scowl that was able to challenge Gaaras, "You're the reason he tried to starve to death five years ago. You're the reason he nearly stabbed himself with one of the daggers in Kankuros dolls. And you're the FUCKING reason, why my little baby brother isn't to find anywhere now!" She stomped out of the apartment, banging the door into Narutos face.

_What?_

Naruto dropped to the ground. He knew now, why he had the feeling to know her. He actually did. Her name was Temari. Shikamaru talked about her yesterday. She still resembled the blurry image of the teenage girl Naruto had in his head, but he didn't expect her to look that mature by now. What was she doing here anyway? Wasn't she always avoiding her littlest brother?

His thoughts were awful slow and went in circles. The blonde was mad at him. He caused Gaara pain. He's gone missing after Naruto came back to Konoha. The blonde is mad at him.

Moments passed before he was able to catch a certain thought: Gaara was missing. Naruto also rushed out of the door.

To be honest, he still didn't know a lot about the boy that had so much in common with him. They both knew the pain to be looked at like some monster. They both knew how it was to be never alone in their mind. But he didn't knew what happened to him in those years they were apart and where he liked to hide now.

Naruto saw a group of strange dressed young girls approaching the café and looking sad, when they saw it was closed. "Aw, not again on my day off!" one of the girls pouted. Another giggled. "With your luck you'll never see him!" A third continued to tease the first, "You should have seem him yesterday. He had an aura that made my mind melt!"

Naruto wondered who they talked about. Up to now, Naruto didn't see the owner of the café or any other employee, but he also wasn't there in main time, he guessed.

Wiping the girls out of his thoughts, he started to stroll through the streets. Maybe he would spot the inimitable red color of his hair somewhere on the streets.

As if.

As much, as Gaara might be able to control himself by now, he even worked with humans every day, he still gave that let-me-alone aura off. Without any goal Naruto continued his walk.

The sun was already setting, when he realized where he was. The buildings looked smaller now, and not that terrifying confining anymore. Konohas 'Green Leaf'. A few kids romped in high grass.

With seeing his old home, he was suddenly melancholic. He let his head fall down on his chest. Would Gaara have been luckier if he hadn't met Naruto? His sister told him, he tried to kill himself. Naruto clenched his fists in his pockets and squinted his eyes.

The blonde said, she searched for him in his favorite spots. Did Gaara still like the greenhouse? Was it even still intact? Slowly he restarted his walk to the place, where he spent most of his time during those last months in Konoha.

* * *

The door squealed. Gaara lifted his head, but the last rays of the sun took his vision when he looked at the intruder. Whoever it was, he didn't move. Gaara had to squint his eyes to make out his outlines. The sun disappeared behind the big trees of Konohas forest and everything was black for a moment. When he finally was able to see bright deep-blue eyes, he jumped to his feet and took a step backwards.

Naruto looked worried at him. Gaara wanted to see that face smiling or pained, but not worried. The blonds expression grew more somber, when he looked around in the greenhouse. The glass was cracked everywhere and there were pieces of glass all over the soil. Most cactuses were dead by now and nature reclaimed this forgotten spot of land.

"I don't think that happened today, huh?" the blond asked with a forced smile. Gaara shook his head, still ready to jump back, if Naruto decided to come closer to him. Shukaku was strong today. The other demon in him might not want to help his 'big brother', but Shukaku was too willingly to help those reborn feelings in Gaara to take him out of hand.

Naruto took one step in his direction, Gaara took one step back. The blonds expression became stern. Gaara felt Shukaku jerking inside him. His blood boiled. He blinked. His eyes twitched. The angry look Naruto had now, was also a thing he didn't want to see. He looked back over his shoulder to see there wasn't any way to escape. The blond took another step towards him.

Gaara tried to run for the door, but the fox grabbed him hard by his arm, almost breaking it. Why didn't he took his sand with him this morning? Soil wasn't useable at all. Gaara didn't look at him, but he felt Narutos scowl in his back. Suddenly his knees felt like pudding. The blond gave off an imitating aura, sending a shiver down his spine. Slowly Gaara turned around and saw the almost animalistic expression in Narutos face. He looked even more like a fox now. Narutos eyes were red and his pupils slit, he was influenced by the kyuubi now. Of course. Gaara remembered. The kyuubi. Otherwise Shukaku wouldn't be that eager to let him ravish the boy.

Both demons were quiet now, but Gaara still blinked at Naruto, whose expression became soft. The teenager in front of him averted his eyes to the ground and softened his grip, tough he didn't let go off him totally, while mumbling, "Sorry." When Naruto looked at Gaara again, his eyes were back to their usual stunning blue. The aura was gone too. Narutos hand slipped down to Gaaras and tugged him with him, when he turned to the door.

The sky was still dyed in a bright orange when they left the green leaf. They didn't speak a word until they stood in front of Gaaras door. By now the sky was black for quite some time. Gaara fished for the key in his pockets and opened the door.

"By the way, your sister was searching for you," Naruto said casual. Though Gaara liked the blond to talk, he didn't like him to talk about that. Shrugging he entered the apartment, kicking his boots off behind the door.

He hadn't drunk coffee the whole day and felt somewhat hungry and … tired. One day with the fox and his life was turned upside down again. Gaara searched for his strawberries, the only eatable thing he actually took to his apartment. Frankly, he would prefer eating other things, but he never learned how to cook, not to say he didn't see the necessity, and Temari usually forced him to eat down in the café with her together, what was enough in his eyes. There wasn't any reason in actually taking something with him upstairs.

Gaara didn't find the strawberries at their usual place in the small refrigerator. Temari … He growled low and closed the refrigerator. Suddenly he saw Naruto in the corner of his eye. He was way to close, causing Gaara to tense. The sand in the jar in the closet twitched in anticipation.

"Do you search something?" Naruto asked innocent.

Gaara nodded and folded his arms. "My strawberries …"

"Uh-oh … I swear, I didn't ate much! Temari warned me, but … Uhm … yeah …" Naruto looked at the ground and scratched the back of his head. "Well, they're in 'my' room."

Gaara sighed and unfolded his arms. Right now, he wasn't in the mood to punish the blond. He just let him stay in the kitchen and went to get his berries. He took them to his room and locked the door behind him. The blond said good night through the door shortly after.

…

Gaara was in his room. He wasn't able to settle down, not to speak of resting. Wandering around like a trapped tiger, his thoughts tried to burst his head. His hands yanked his hair. Shukaku started to scream again, bringing Gaara to freak out. He tore out some strands of his red hair, shaking and staring at the ground, not seeing anything. The other demon was speaking clearly.

_"Just go over and take what you want. What you got the right to claim as yours."_

"No. Not yet. He'll run away again and never come back, this time for sure."

_"You can imprison him. Like you did in the greenhouse years ago."_

"…"

_"You know you can do it. You were able to do it then."_

"They will search him."

_"They don't have to know that he's still with you. If they even know he was. If he told Sakura. You don't think, he would ruin his relationship with her by talking of all things about you, after not seeing her for years, don't you? It was already after midnight when he came back. The streets were empty. No one knows he's with you. Just use the balcony. You can get into his room even if he locked up the door. If he wakes up and you want to run away like a fucking coward, you can let the fire escape clatter and run for your window. He'll never think it was you. He don't think you're able to desire someone. Your own fault."_

Gaara nodded. "Just see him," he soothed himself.

He left his room through the window and stood on the balcony that connected the living room, his room and the room Naruto was currently sleeping in. The night was warm and humid. Seeing the window wide open, he feared the object of his desires was still awake. He sneaked slowly to the window and took a peek inside. The blond slept. Slowly Gaara lifted himself to the window sill. Seeing that Naruto had kicked his cover away, he was glad that his fox decided to sleep in his clothes. Gaara didn't know if he would have been able to restrain himself, if he would see more of the slightly tanned skin.

Until the birds started to tweet, he just sat there, looking at the blond, his demons both quiet.

* * *

**A/N2:** Okay!  
We see, Gaara 'likes' Naruto a lot. But to what point? Just physically, or does he love him? And he's a … bit *giggles* of a sadist. He wants Naruto to whimper, cry and scream in pain while devouring him. But what's about the kyuubi? Will he let the ichibi dominate him? Is Naruto strong enough, to suppress his demon? Will _Naruto_ let himself be dominated? Does he even want the same kind of relationship, like Gaara wants with him?  
Questions over questions … Tell me **your** answers in reviews! ;)

* * *

Edited 09/07/2013:  
Minor changes and grammatical issues.


	8. Chapter 7: Cross the line, dear sister!

**A/N: **Sorry for the slow update! I guess I'm kinda in a writer's block … Don't like the feeling, un! Well, usually I prefer to have the next chapter in draft mode before updating … But I don't want to make you wait too long without any explanation. So, here's chapter 7, but chapter 8 might take some time. Hope, I'll be able to update within a week at least. *sigh*  
(Bad title is bad)

* * *

**Chapter 7: Cross the line, dear sister!**

When Uzumaki Naruto woke up this morning, he heard the birds tweet and felt the sun shine in his face. There was a faint memory of a strange dream , but as soon as Naruto tried to catch it, it was gone. He stretched his muscles - this night on the couch was way more comfortable - and a low, jet satisfied yawn escaped his mouth. Still sleepy he blinked. The dulled noise of the shopping street on the other side of the building reached his hears.

Despite that there was no sound in the apartment. Naruto sat slowly up, still a bit dazed from sleep. He rubbed his eyes when suddenly his stomach growled.

… Temari said she'd eat lunch at the café. He wondered if they also offer ramen there. Ever since Jiraiya took him to eat ramen a few weeks after he had to leave Konoha, he loved it. His obsession for the food made him go as far, as to learn how it was prepared, and he made his friends eat his creations several times a week. At first they made grimaces and after a certain fancy one, Sasori had to stay at the hospital for a week due to an upset stomach, but by now he was well-known for his tasty ramen. In the kitchen were all tools he needed to make ramen and he would make some right here and now, but when he searched through the kitchen yesterday, he found nothing eatable expect for the strawberries. Would it be possible to make ramen of strawberries …?

Naruto stripped and threw his smelly clothes over the back of the couch. In all the commotion the day before he totally forgot to change and in the evening he dropped dead tired to sleep without changing to his pajamas. He tugged a simple orange shirt with a black swirl on the chest, blue jeans and a pair of white socks out of his bag and made himself ready to search for Gaara. Somehow he was nervous about the silence in the apartment.

When he found Gaara last evening, he saw those strange yellow eyes again. Those eyes, he had thought they were his imagination, when he spoke the first time to the boy, almost six years ago. Apparently they were not. A strange feeling of hatred and the urge to dominate flooded him, when he had seen the teenager behave like a threatened animal. But as soon as he saw the usual shining green in Gaaras eyes, everything was gone.

Hopefully the redhead wasn't missing again today. He sighed relieved when he saw a note sticking on the door. 'I'm downstairs.' Somehow in a stunning good mood Naruto left the apartment. He slept like a log after the last day. He went a few steps down before something hit his mind. He _still_ didn't know Gaaras last name, and now was the easiest time to answer this question. He took several steps at once to hurry back and squinted his eyes at the name tag. "Sabaku," he mumbled. Fitting. He turned on his heels and made his way down to the café.

…

On the first and even on the second and third glance it was a decent place to spend your time. The day before yesterday Naruto didn't pay much attention to the furniture, but now, dimly illuminated and with patrons, it had his very own charm. Beside the counter there were mainly low tables with comfy looking plush-chairs. At the ground were several small carpets, sometimes overlapping each other, giving also the possibility to sit on the ground, if you wanted to. To give the patrons privacy, big cactuses and small palm trees were spread between the tables and translucent fabrics hung from the ceiling. Everything, except for the plants of course, was kept in yellow, orange, red and brown. Low music was playing in the background. Though Gaara didn't really fit in the image, it was all in all, as said, a decent place to spend your time.

As long as your name wasn't Uzumaki Naruto. For him, something was strange about this café. It was as if it wanted to expulse him.

Naruto sat on the counter for about half an hour now, poking his piece of cake. It looked delicious, with apple and cinnamon, but somehow he didn't dare to eat. He felt at least a dozen pairs of eyes burning in his back.

He was the only one sitting at the counter. There were still free tables, but as soon as he opened the door, Gaara showed him with a glare, he wanted him to sit on the same spot like the day before yesterday. Despite the glare, the redhead seemed to be in a good mood once Naruto sat down and the cake was positioned in front of him. Though Naruto wasn't able to tell why, he put on a faked smile for his patrons and in front of Naruto his face was expressionless, but somehow he had the feeling, Gaara was really happy about something.

By time Naruto wondered why they stared at him that much. When he was walking through the town on Saturday, no one stared at him. Maybe they forgot, maybe they didn't care, maybe they didn't recognize him, in the end it was the same: Naruto wasn't stared at like a monster.

But now … He didn't think the girls stared at him because of the kyuubi. It was a different kind of stare than what he was used to see, when he was a child. Still disgust, but also hatred. He heard them whisper and hissing, but he wasn't able to hear anything in specific.

"You didn't eat," Gaara interrupted his musings. Naruto heard the noise of the girls increasing.

"Hm? Yeah." Hastily Naruto shoved the cake into his mouth. As soon as he finished, he jumped from his chair, said his thanks to a slightly puzzled looking Gaara, and rushed out of the café. He didn't like to do that, but he wasn't able to bear the tension in there anymore.

Maybe he should pay Sakura a visit. He wasn't able to ask her the first day and yesterday he even didn't saw her. Frankly, as much as he liked Gaara, he didn't want to bother the withdrawn boy too much. He somehow had the feeling, the redhead wanted more time for himself. Naruto wasn't ever before at Sakuras home, but it wasn't hard to find after she gave him a short description of the way the day before yesterday. She seemed to be a bit surprised, but also happy, to see him.

"You can be glad today is my day off," she told him teasingly in her room.

"Are you working already?" Despite his question, he wasn't really surprised. Sakura was never a person to waste much time.

She nodded. "Together with Ino at her parents flower shop. But it's more like a holiday job for now."

They drifted into small talk and for once Naruto had for the glimpse of a moment the thought, maybe his six years not being in Konoha were really good. Otherwise he would never had build a relationship that good with the girl of his dreams.

It was already early evening, when the blond came back. His sudden leave this morning left Gaara stunned for a few seconds, but after all his fox had his own life, and he wasn't going to steal it, if not necessary.  
The young man sat down on his usual place and dropped his head on the counter. Gaara tilted his head, knowing Naruto would be able to read his gestures.

The blond sighed. "Sakura says, I can't stay with her for now. She's still living with her parents and they never ever would let a male friend sleeping with her in one room. Something about Sasuke and her crush and how he hurt her without even being in a relationship and so on …"

Though a little part of him jumped in happiness at this, Gaara raised a brow. Naruto didn't get it this time. "And that's letting you down today? Wasn't your meeting two days ago?"

Naruto lifted his head and sat straight now, as always when he's nervous, scratching the back of his head and faintly smiling. "About that - Well, I wasn't alone with her that day and didn't want to rush on her. Apparently she organized a little surprising welcome-home meeting with all my old friends."

And of course nobody told Gaara, the fox would come back to Konoha. Well, no surprise.

"So I paid her a visit today, but with no lucky end … Though she was worried I had to sleep in the park," he chuckled.

"No wonder. You smell like you slept in the park."

"Wha-"

"Just go up and take a shower. I'll close in about an hour." Gaara hold a spare key right in Narutos face. The fox looked uncertain, but eventually he took it, stood up and left the café again. One hour. Gaara hoped, he left the bathroom by that time already and hadn't decided to take a bath.

When Gaara entered his apartment, he heard the familiar swoosh of his shower. How fucking long needed the fox to shower? An unfamiliar smell coming from his kitchen distracted him from the feeling, what the thought of Naruto naked in his shower threw through his body.

And there _was_ something unfamiliar in his kitchen. On the table, which was mainly decoration and existed to give his sister the feeling, he actually eats something at home, were two bowls with a steaming content, each with a pair of chopsticks on top of it. Gaara had never seen something like _that _in those bowls. Before he was able to inspect it any further, he heard the click of the bathroom door behind him. His head snapped over his shoulder.

Did his fox even know, what he was doing to him? Naruto peeked from behind the door through the corridor. Just his head and a part of his well-trained chest was visible, but the fact that he was still dripping wet, made Gaaras imagination run wild.

The blond grinned innocent. "Don't start without me! I'm there in five." He disappeared behind the door again, leaving an upset Gaara.

Just sit down and calm … Various images dashed through Gaaras head. The door opened again. HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN! At least he was wearing clothes.

Naruto grinned at him again, walked towards the table and sat down on the opposite side. He tugged one of the bowls towards him, announced, "Itadakimasu!" and started his meal. Some moments passed before he noticed that Gaara hadn't budge at all. "Something wrong?"

Gaara looked doubting at the remaining bowl. "What _is_ that?"

"Ramen! Don't tell me you've never eaten ramen before!" Gaara shook his head. "… Just give it a try, okay? For me, please?" the blond asked with a puppy face.

Well, it _looked_ eatable and it _was_ eatable. There were better things in this world, but it was certainly eatable. Gaara nodded approving. His little golden fox smiled content.

"If you want, I can cook every day for you. Don't think ramen is the only thing I'm capable of doing!" he said cheerful.

Gaara shrugged. "Lunch. Temari won't have to come over then anymore." One person who wants him to eat was more than enough.

Naruto seemed to be utterly happy, but to Gaaras misfortune he was silent for the rest of the meal and retired soon for the night.

There is someone staring at him.  
It isn't like the stare he had to endure, when he was a kid, and not like the stare the girls in the café this morning gave him. It's measuring, recording every inch of his body. It's strange, the stare should bother him, but somehow he likes it. It is that kind of stare that makes you feel wanted, needed, loved.

Naruto yanked out of his dream. What the hell was that? It felt so _real_.

The sky was slightly lighted by the rising sun and Naruto heard footsteps in the apartment, Gaara wasn't downstairs yet. Naruto remembered, he wanted to ask the redhead something, so he shoved the dream away and hurried to leave the room.

He found Gaara sitting in the kitchen, sipping coffee like usual. "Hey …" Naruto didn't really know how to start. "Uhm …" Gaara cocked his head in question. "Well, can you ask the owner of the café if there's a job as waiter or so?" He nervously shifted his weight from one feet to the other and back. "It looked somehow crowded yesterday. I don't know how you're managing that all on your own. Just want to help you somehow for letting me live here."

Gaara didn't show any reaction for some moments. "I don't think the _owner_ would like you to work there just to help me out."

"Please?" Naruto pleaded, "I don't need an allowance or so."

Again no reaction for some moments. "I'll ask. Don't come into the café before lunchtime. Temari will be there at about one p.m.. Can you manage to prepare something by then?"

"Of course!" Naruto was back to his cheerful grin.

Somehow it was now like six years ago in the greenhouse again. Naruto was ranting about this and that and Gaara seemed to be deep in thoughts, not really ignoring him, but also not really listening, until the redhead had to leave for work.

…

Naruto sat on the same spot like the day before and felt the same glares and scowls already burning into his neck, though he sat there for not more than five minutes now. As if he didn't notice any of the bad air in the café, Gaara nibbled at the sandwich Naruto had prepared. How was he supposed to endure this during his new job as waiter during the late afternoon and evening hours, which Gaara was able to wrench from the owner?

Naruto tried to shield himself off from all those glares. Suddenly a women sat beside him. He gave her a short glace. Temari.

"So you've made acquaintance with his little fan-club already?" she whispered in his ear.

'She's damn hot!' Why had Shikamarus statement about the older sister of one of his best friends to pop out in his mind _now_? He swallowed and nodded.

Temari looked at her littlest brother and smirked. "And he doesn't even notice it. Well, I'm happy they know I'm his sister." She didn't whisper anymore in his ear, but spoke low enough for Gaara not to hear them.  
She looked knowingly at Naruto. "I guess, otherwise I wouldn't be alive anymore." _WHAT?_ Apparently she was able to read minds and fell in a loud laughter. "Not really. But some of them can be really harsh. Especially in vacation time like now, when those who still go to school have free time the whole day form groups and make your life hard." Naruto felt the panic in him rising. "But I guess, I owe you one, Uzumaki Naruto. You were able to find him, as he told me, and seemingly want him to eat something, just like me. So," and there she whispered in his ear again, this time with a seductive tone, "just play an act with me and they will leave you, hopefully," causing Naruto to blush.

She gave her little brother, who had observed the situation without any visible expression in his face, a short smirk and pressed her body against Naruto. What was she doing?! His gaze shot to her brother, but he didn't budge at all.

The blonde woman looked deep into Narutos eyes, her lashes fluttering. She gave him a soft kiss on his jar and made her way up to his earlobe. "I guess, that will show them you aren't here for my little brothers ass. And to be honest, I hope for you, you really aren't here for that. You know, some member of his fan-club think he's gay, because he never really talked to them despite all their effort. But even with the male regulars he's not on good terms. And now you're here, he's chatting with you and eats the lunch you brought. So-so-so … I really hope their scales aren't working for you," she whispered again, giving a last, almost sisterly kiss on his cheek.

Naruto wasn't really sure if she meant this as a threat or in another way. Shikamaru was true, she was hot, but nothing could beat his Sakura. And he didn't want to break the heart of the woman, which was the older sister of one of his best friends and the crush of another of his best friends. For the threat … No way. Not a guy. And especially not Gaara. He was a friend. On top of that, there was no way, Naruto was gay. He was totally straight. Even if, and just IF, Naruto in any alternate universe would like the redhead in that way, there was absolutely no reason for Gaara to mess around with a man. To say, that boy had his own fan-club, according to his sister! In that age ...

Temari got up leisurely, gave him a seductive nod and left the café slowly. In the corner of his eyes he saw the 'fan-club', how Temari had called them, fevered whispering, but at least their stare was gone.

In contrast to Gaara, who gave Naruto a scowl. "You know I didn't ask her to do that, right?" he asked the boiling teenager. Apparently Gaara had a hard time to control himself, but in the end he relaxed.

"Just go for now, pay Sakura a visit or so, before the rumor spreads. It will be hard enough to keep contact to her. You might be working on different times of the day from tomorrow on."

Gaara confused Naruto. Normally he wouldn't let go off from Naruto and now he's sending him away? Is he already bothering him? "Hey, remember that day I found you crying because you were so lonely in the greenhouse?" Naruto asked his friend soft.

"I wasn't lonely," Gaara hissed back.

"Yeah, whatever … Dou you remember, what I thought why you were crying?"

Gaara furrowed his brows and cocked his head. "What are you hitting at?" Of course he remembered. Naruto smiled sad and looked at his hands.

"If your answer ever changes, tell me." Without waiting for an answer for now, Naruto got up and left the café.

…

Not knowing Sakuras working hours, Naruto headed for 'Yamanakas Flower Shop'. A blond girl with the light-blue eyes, who looked surprisingly alike her early-teen-version, welcomed him sincere and grinned knowingly at Naruto. Especially for Ino it was never a secret that he had a crush on her best friend.

"Flowers for Miss Huge Forehead?"

"Uhm, well, not really. I just wanted to look for her," Naruto replied and was glad that the blond women never told her friend about his feelings. That was something he wanted to tell her himself.

"No luck for you, like always," she teased him, "Sakuras shift is from 6 till 12 a.m. and, like you already found out, her day off is Monday."

The café was closed on Thursday, of course, as if there was any other possibility with Narutos luck. He cursed silent in his head. Gaara was right, it would be hard to see her. He quickly calculated the times in his head. If everything was well planned, he would see her for one or two hours a day, if she wanted to. He sighed. Well, make the best out of it and enjoy your last day as a free man.

Eventually he decided, with the help of Ino, to buy a potted Gardenia. "By the way, where are you staying? That first day you hadn't a bag with you, so I guess you visited someone before you met us." She smiled twisted at him, her hand propped on one of her palms, leaning against the counter. "It's not Sakura and none of those, who welcomed you back the first day. Don't try to fool me with saying you're staying at an hotel."

Naruto smiled nervous at her. He hoped, she wouldn't sense his nervousness, but what was he thinking? It was Ino. If she still was at least half as good in obtaining information, as she was when she was 13, she'll find out at last tomorrow. "I'm staying with Gaara," he mumbled.

Her lips formed a silent 'oh'. "Wasn't that the punk that destroyed Sakuras camera? What's she saying about that? Don't be flattered, but she likes you. Staying at her sworn enemy's place may not be the best idea, if you want it to stay that way."

"She doesn't know yet. For now there's no other way. I wasn't in contact with any of my friends here for almost six years except for her. By accident Gaara was the first one I met and he allowed me to leave my bag with him. To be honest," he pouted and folded his arms, "all of you messed up with my plans that day. Well, in the end I came back to get my bag and the first thing he did, was offering me his couch." Naruto remembered the question about sharing Gaaras bed and forced it out of his head. "By the way, I got him to get me a job in the café he's working at, to compensate. Wanna come visit me?" He grinned cheerful at Ino.

It was already near midnight, when Naruto came home. Yes, _home_. Gaara wouldn't let his fox go. His leash would be long, he wouldn't even notice it, but in the end, Naruto was caught. Gaara sat on the floor in the living room, where the couch usually was. He wouldn't do anything about the empty spot before Naruto decided to share his bed.

From his spot Gaara was able to see the entrance door of his apartment. "You don't," he said in a monotone voice as soon as Naruto closed the door and turned into his direction.

"I don't what?" his fox asked back, kicked his shoes off and headed for the kitchen to dispose his groceries.

Gaara waited for him until he was back in the corridor. "You don't bother me."

Naruto raised a brow. "And that's you're saying, while sitting on the floor in your very own living room, while the couch is used as a make-shift bed in another room," Naruto doubted.

Gaara simply nodded. People told him often, his ways of reasoning weren't easy to follow, but he didn't see any sense in explain every little thought. He stood up and headed for his room. "Just be sure, you don't bother me at all," he added before closing his door after him, not looking at the blond.

He heard the door to Narutos room click and a few long moments later rustling of clothes being stripped off, but just one of two parts was put on again. _Yes_, this night was hotter than the last ones, Gaara realized. Not as if was hard enough to endure that Temari crossed a line this noon. It seemed, she knew something, the way she smirked at him before throwing herself at Naruto. There was no other reason for his sisters action, regarding all her character traits and likings. Teasing him was one of her favorite hobbies since she noticed, he wouldn't harm her anymore. And right now, there was just one thing he would prefer to do over killing her.

The man he needed for doing the thing, he liked to do, was also the reason, why he had been able to restrain the sand from smashing her right there and then on the counter in the café, and was sleeping now on the other side of the wall he was staring at right now.

There they were again, his two 'demons'. To be exact, just Shukaku was a demon. That other thing in him was just an emotion, though a very strong one. By now he knew, he had to give in at least a bit. Otherwise he would be really insane in a few weeks. Nobody would imprison him in a psychiatry again, that was Gaara sure of. Whether he had to kill everyone, who tried to trap him, or himself, he wouldn't go. But as long, as there was no reason for anyone to imprison him, Gaara wasn't forced to take radical methods.

He waited about half an hour, to make sure Naruto was sleeping, before he climbed through his window on the balcony, like the last two nights. Gaara wondered, how the blond would taste.

* * *

Edited 09/07/2013:  
Minor changes and grammatical issues.


	9. Chapter 8: Cunning

**A/N:** Writers block & mental cinema are not good n_n; Okay, here we have **lemon**! (Uh, first time for me! … can't get worse, huh?) For those, who don't like to read the lemon part, I marked it.

**EDIT 07/07/2013:**  
**Deleted the lemon. Will be up again soon**** on aff. Check my profile for the link****.**

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**Chapter 8: Cunning**

_There is that stare again. He doesn't know what to do. He's squirming under the intensive stare. Oh, how he would like to see Sakura looking at him like that. The pink-haired girl stands in front of him now. It's still pleasant, but he somehow has the feeling, there's something wrong, it doesn't feel like a dream. _

It was somehow strange, but whenever Naruto had a dream, he knew he was dreaming. He felt himself still lying in his bed, felt the cover on his body and his unmovable, aching limbs. Jiraiya once called that a 'lucid dream'. However, he was glad he rarely had nightmares. To know you're dreaming, makes you thinking about your dreams, what results in memorizing them. Unless he wasn't total spent, he would dream every night and remember almost every dream.

_Sakura is caressing his cheek. Slowly and warm, soft skin on soft skin. He leans into her touch. Such a wonderful feeling. Like in stop-motion she lowers her head to him. _

Lowers? Don't care, Sakura was about to kiss him. Stop to barge in, damn brain! She was standing on a pedestal.

_Sakura is standing on a pedestal and lowering her head to Naruto. She smells sweet, like strawberries. The pink haired girl gives him a soft, short kiss on his cheek and draws back in an abrupt motion, licking her lips. "Sakura ..." _

"A…ra …" Damn, talking in your sleep is so uncool. He had to get that in grip. But oh god, what a sexy view!

_She takes some time before moving again, this time heading for his jaw, right below his ear. She plants another three kisses down on his neck before leaving him again, looking at him with a heartened twinkle in her eyes. _

He felt himself shifting his position and cuddled his pillow. Great, out of his dream at the good part. "Sakura … Don't leave me now, please," he murmured to himself and tried to dive back into that awesome dream.

_The 'real' feeling is gone now, but Sakura is still there, what's more important. The good part is beginning now. _

As much, as I liked those dreams, it's always a mess in the morning. Want to take a cold shower for waking up? Idiot! Damn brat, shut up for one moment, will ya? _Back to Sakura …_

Sometimes, he hated his personality, especially when he was sleeping. It was almost, as if he had two personalities. And he was ALWAYS fighting with himself, even insulting himself, when it came to such nice dreams. One part of him, what was reasoning and if he would be conscious the one he would choose to follow, tried to end those dreams. The other one, which was apparently 'he', since he always did what that voice demanded, was moody and like a little child, never thinking about what he was doing and the consequences, was sadly the stronger one.

When Yahiko died and he was drunk, Nagato complained, he was totally different and awkward. Clingy cuddling with him and purring like a cat while trying to rip off their both clothes. Nagato told him, he hoped for Naruto, it wasn't just for Jiraiyas presence that nothing further happened. What a BAD, bad, baaaaad memory. Almost assaulting his best friend, who was too weak to fight him off, and on top of that a guy! Naruto covered his face with his hands at that shameful memory. He didn't remember his behavior when he was drunk, but apparently it was the same as when he dreamed.

However, the consequence for last night's dream were sticky boxers and sweatpants, which he used as pajama pants. Naruto let out a loud sigh. He was dumb enough to bring just one pair of pants to sleep in with him and sleeping in jeans was uncomfortable like hell. Looking at the mess he did in his sleep, he decided it was the best to wait until Gaara left for work and take care of the stained skin and clothes, hoping in the heat of summer his pants were dry by night again.

Unfortunately said redhead decided to knock at his door. "Everything okay?" Naruto jumped and nodded. It sounded like Gaara was standing right behind him. "Naruto? I'm coming in."

He wasn't yet? Wait - did he lock the door last night? Naruto jumped up and saw the door open. For him everything happened slower than usual, like in some bad action movie. "No, wait!" he called und jumped against the door with his full body. What don't you do for not being embarrassed in front of the guy you're living with at the moment? Especially when you want to hide that you had a _very_ pleasant dream on his couch?

Just milliseconds after his crash with the door he heard a thud, followed about two seconds later by a pained hiss. "Okay, at least _you_ are not injured," Gaara mumbled on the other side of the door.

God, was he chuckling now? Did he hurt his head? Was Naruto the cause for a permanent change in the personality of the redhead? What if he was deadly injured by Naruto and bleeding now on the other side of the door, hyped up by the loss of blood? What if Temari found out what he did to her brother? She was that time, when Gaara just wanted to be by himself, scary enough.

She would slice him into little neat packages of meat and make sure, no one would know where he is or what happened to him. And Shikamaru - he was in love with her. Naruto wasn't really sure, but he had the feeling there _was_ something going on between them. Even if there wasn't something, if she didn't like him, he liked her, and Temari was a woman who wouldn't flinch away from using minions. Wait - was he thinking about Shikamaru as a minion?

Whatever, with Shikamaru on her side, she would also get Choujis help and Kiba would also take part in their complot and with Kiba there would be Shino and Hinata and with that much people even Ino would want to lynch him and at the end Sakura would kill him.

A low rustle remembered Naruto of the deadly injured Gaara on the other side of the door. OH GOD, HE HAD TO CALL AN AMBULANCE! He flung the door open and -

nearly ran into Gaara. The taller man looked down at the smaller one, his face ripped off all emotions expect for one not really visible in an asking manner raised eyebrow. The smaller man, namely Naruto, turned red like a lobster. The other brow came visiting his brother.

What was it even with Gaaras brows? He stared at his friends face. Well, there was no hair. But skin and muscles moved like they did, when any other person puckered his brows. It was harder to read because there was no big line in his face moving, screaming 'Here I am! HEEEREEEE!' but still readable.

Gaara lowered his head, just like Sakura did in his dream last night, pulling Naruto out of his musings, but still the memories of his dream came back. He jumped alarmed back, earning a glare from Gaara. Why the hell had he to think about his dream right NOW? Suddenly he remembered the circumstances his clothes were in right now. Dear kami - please don't let him notice _anything_!

"So you didn't listen. Just want to check if you got a fever." With that he bumped their foreheads together. "Don't seem so, but," Gaara looked down at the teenager in front of him, "nevertheless, you should maybe take a _cold_ shower." The redhead turned on his heels and left the apartment.

So he _did_ notice both embarrassing circumstances that made his life hard for now - one literally, forced up on him by the memories of his last night's dream. What was up with him and his thoughts today? He sighed and walked towards the bathroom. Not having a girlfriend was really hard. But he would manage the day. It wasn't neither the first time he had to manage an awkward situation, nor the first time working as a waiter.

From that day ongoing he had every night such a real feeling dream. Sometimes dream-Sakura was more bold, sometimes she was reserved, and though his body didn't react anymore that strong to his dreams, there was no night he didn't dream about her. Strangely, whenever she kissed his lips, it didn't feel real.

About a week without any other noteworthy incidents passed by, though the audience of the café seemed to grow, before he saw someone he actually knew sitting in one of the comfy plush-chairs. Ino smiled gleeful at him, beside her sat Hinata staring at the carpet.

The blonde woman waved him to her table. "Hey little Mr. Water!"

Hi Naruto-kun," Hinata added shyly. The black-haired girl has always been shy, but seemingly it increased over years. When he saw her the last time, she didn't speak a single word to him and blushed every time he looked in her direction.

Both of them made their order. "But actually we're here 'cause Kiba is a lazy bastard and made Hinata to do his work," Ino sighed and looked at the shy girl beside her, which startled and blushed even more.

"Uhm … yeah. Y-you know, n-next week i-is his birthday … and I wanted to ask yo-you, if y-you want to ce-celebrate with us." She still stared at the carpet.

It made Naruto nervous that she didn't look at him while speaking with him, but being invited to a birthday-party was still nice. "Yeah, why not? But I will be late, have to work until 9. The 7th was it, right?"

Hinata nodded.

* * *

Gaara didn't like this night. His fox wasn't beside him and he didn't know what Naruto was like, when he was drunk. Not that he expected his fox to get drunk on first chance, but he was at a party, where people usually drink. Even when most people there weren't 21 yet, there was always someone who managed to provide alcohol. It made his mind go wild. Yes, Naruto asked him, if he want to accompany him, but Gaara knew, no one would like to have him there, so he simply said 'no'. As result he lay on the fluffy carpet in the dark living room and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore his demons.

It had to be about half past three in the morning when someone knocked gentle at the door. Gaara knew because the birds started to tweet. Unwillingly he rose up. Who was it? Naruto had a spare key. As it knocked again, he opened the door and saw Sakura and Naruto leaning against her. Because of the darkness it took her one moment to recognize the person in front of her, but then she gave him one of the finest scowls he had ever seen. Just Temari and Kankuro were able to beat her. The scowl disappeared fast and was replaced by a nervous smile. She shoved the teenager from her shoulder into Gaaras direction.

"Guess, he drunk a bit too much. I hope he don't has a blackout … There will be some trouble the next days," she sighed.

The fox blinked at him, blushed and smiled dreamy before wobbling towards him and dropping against his chest. Gaara tried to catch him, but he lost his balance and was pushed to the ground by the weight of his fox.

"Well, I let you alone for now," Sakura said smiling embarrassed and closed the door. Gaara heard her walking down the steps.

Gaara sat up and looked down at the teenager that was curled up like a baby fox between his legs. He looked wide awake with deep blue eyes back, all drowsiness gone.

"Finally alone," the blond yawned. He stretched his back and lay sprawled out on his back over Gaaras thighs. Just what was up with his fox? He was a touchy person, but there was certainly something wrong. Naruto stared at him intensely.

Without any premonition the teenager rushed up, throw his arms around Gaaras neck and stopped just a hairsbreadth away from his lips. Gaara felt his breath on his lips.

"I know what you want," his fox said husky. When he spoke, his lips grazed softly over Gaaras. He felt the blood rushing to a lower part of his body. Half-lidded, darkened blue eyes met greens for a moment before looking down on his lips again, sending a shiver down his spine. Gaara didn't dare to move. Though this was better than all the nights before, there was still the chance, his cunning fox just wanted to tease him. He was drunk after all.

Narutos lips pressed soft against his. Even if Naruto wanted to tease him, Gaara didn't care anymore now. He run his fingers through blond hair, grasped his neck and pulled him closer. When Naruto started to move his lips, Gaara knew, his fox wasn't teasing him. A bold tongue demanded for entrance to his mouth, but he flinched, causing his fox to whimper. Without a word he jumped up, gripped the blond by his wrist and dragged him towards his bedroom and pushed him on his bed.

...

His fox freed himself from Gaaras embrace and earned a glare, but didn't care. He reached for his clothes on the floor.

Maybe he just wanted to take a shower. Naruto wiggled to the door and glanced back at Gaara. He surely will come back in a few minutes and let himself be cuddled again. Oh god, what was he thinking?

"Maybe next time I well let Naruto have the fun. You know, he may be sleeping every night, but _I'm _always awake." There was a short red flicker in Narutos eyes.

The sun threw her first rays into his room.

Gaara had abused his only friends body, while he was controlled by his demon.

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Review please!

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Edited 24/06/2013 (grammatical issues), 07/07/2013 (lemon deleted), 09/07/2013 (hid the scars from 07/07)


	10. Chapter 9: Night-blind

**Chapter 9: Night-blind**

It was a wonderful and nice day. The birds chirped in the backyard, the sun shined brightly in his face and it smelled like freshly mowed grass. It was warm, perfect weather to go to a lake or something like that.

Naruto wanted to kill the birds, so they shut up, heavy rain clouds on the sky, so that the sun wouldn't heat up his head any more, and cursed whoever decided to cut the grass at 7 a.m. with one of those power mowers which woke up everyone in a radius of three blocks. All in all it was a day he would prefer to spend in his bed.

His whole body felt sore and his head ached like never before. Well, on one hand it's kinda expected to have a hangover, when you drink until you don't remember anything anymore, though Naruto didn't remember to have drunk that much. On the other hand, he was just once before drunk. After Yahikos death he never had the urge to celebrate anything.

It took him some time to realize that he also didn't know how he came back last night. He didn't remember anything at all from the moment where Hinata topped up his glass for the third time. Strangely he seemed to have taken a shower after coming back and slept in his pajamas.

Apart from his hangover, everything was like on every other day. He heard Gaara in the kitchen and the faintly noise of some news channel from the living room.

The image of a flustered Nagato invaded his mind. 'Hey, what the fuck was up with you yesterday? Clinging to me like some love-stricken idiot!'Naruto tugged his pillow over his head and hoped, nothing similar happened last night.

* * *

Gaara cursed himself again and again for running after Naruto that one day almost three weeks ago. His life would be that much easier.

It was as if last night had been just a dream. There were no bite marks on Narutos neck and no scratches on his arm. There were no signs that remembered at their shared night at his body at all. The blond was nervous like hell, but it didn't seem that Gaara was the reason for that. Gaara himself tried to stay calm. Well, at least no one noticed that he wasn't calm at all.

…

It was the second night after that the kyuubi took advantage of his liking for Naruto. Last night he didn't dare to come close to Naruto, but today he sat on his usual spot. Ironically it weren't his both demons that forced him to so, but his curiosity about the kyuubi. Gaara knew little about the demon in Naruto. Finding information about demons wasn't easy nowadays, especially when you didn't know the name of the demon. He mused, if Naruto even knew, that the being in him had a name, or did he really think the fox was named 'kyuubi'? Apparently they didn't speak much with each other. All in all the demon seemed to be calmer than Shukaku. But without Shukakus constant screaming, sometimes more understandable than other times, Gaara wouldn't even know, that the kyuubi was a fox.  
Still he envied Naruto for being able to sleep.

"Hey, kyuubi …" Gaara whispered lost in thoughts. Today he saw some members of the little club that restrained him from talking to Sakura all those years in his café. Naruto took a break, went to the rear exit with them and Gaara heard them arguing. Gaara didn't hear everything, but something about trying to hit on nearly everyone made his chest ache. He chuckled low at the memory. In the end they were both abused by the kyuubi and Gaara had no clue why the demon didn't tell Naruto yet what he did to him.

The fox didn't give any sign.

"I know very well you're hearing me." Naruto shifted his weight and faced Gaara now, but continued to snore. Either the fox didn't want to talk in a proper way with him or wasn't able to do so. "… Never mind. Just don't do that again, okay?" He left the fox alone with the idiot. _His_ idiot.

A week passed before he dared to touch Naruto again. Absentminded he caressed his cheek.

Even though he knew, it was the kyuubi then and not Naruto, he wasn't able to forget that night. That night, where he didn't feel empty for some unknown reason, that set his mind aflame and calmed him at the same time. He missed the warm soft skin under his fingers and the sweet taste of Narutos lips.

Not until he was just inches away from his face, Gaara noticed he leaned in to kiss the blond. He stopped for a short moment, but decided to take the risk. It was just a soft kiss on his lips and somehow it managed to set his mind at peace for some time.

Naruto didn't react at all. Moments passed and Gaara felt the urge to beat anything up rising. Silently he climbed back into his room and left the apartment.

…

It was the sixth day now. By time Gaara realized that his little blond had a deep sleep. He gave him a kiss every morning before he left the window bench. But today was different. When their lips met, just like every night, the blond shifted and his eyes fluttered slowly open.

SHIT!

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes slowly but wasn't able to see anything particular. It took him always some minutes before he was able to see something, especially when he woke up in the midst of night, just like now.

He heard something clatter loud. Though he didn't see anything and was alone now, he was sure, just moments ago someone had kissed him. Still sleepy he sat up and touched his lips.

Suddenly a flood of images came to his head. No, not images, memories. It were just shreds, but he knew, which evening he was remembering now. Kibas birthday, after he had the blackout. They didn't feel like his own memories, more like from someone who was moving Narutos body, and everything was blurry.

Those blurry memories were upsetting. His fellow leaves already told him about his strange behavior that evening, but he _hoped_ they wanted to prank him. Apparently they did not.

Naruto remembered faintly to have flirted with Hinata. Hardcore flirting, but she fainted as soon as he wanted to kiss her. Inos blue eyes appeared in his mind, giving him meaningful look. Or did _he_ just want that smile to be meaningful? Naruto didn't want to think about her in that way. The next image in his head was again Hinata, snoozing, though he couldn't make out where. Oh god, he should be glad he didn't harm her in any way! Then there was Sakura and he was close to her. Really, really close, he was even able to see single lashes. Images of Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino flooded his head, but he wasn't able to put them in any relation that he liked. Those memories were disturbing.

More and more pictures came back to him. They were dark, he hardly saw anything. There was a big bed and the walls of the room were covered by bookshelves.

It was still dark, but he saw again and again the same eyes, though there was no face to that eyes. He wasn't really able to tell the color, but he had the impression, they were green. This certain memory made him feel warm and content.

Oh god, did he spend the night with Sakura? Where? Her room was totally different from what he saw in his memories. But why was he back at Gaaras afterwards? Did he do anything that made her kick him out? He didn't saw her once since that evening … He tried to see her on his day off, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

He felt his fingers still lingering at his lips. One thing was for sure, he had kissed that person once before at Kibas birthday party. He lost his first kiss drunk at a party and didn't even remember it. Great! Sighing he let his head fall back and stared at the stars. He _liked_ that kiss.

The sun was up for some time now and he heard the same familiar noises like every morning. Twittering, wind in the leaves of the trees in the backyard, people in the shopping street, the anchorman of Gaaras favorite news channel and the coffee machine. Apparently he dozed off again.

As soon as he was completely awake, he remembered what happened last night. He didn't hear anything in the apartment and the loud clatter came from the window. To be honest, he never looked outside of that window at daytime, except for when he woke up, but everything he saw then was just the blue sky. At least now he should take a look. There was a balcony and looking to his left he could see a window, most likely to Gaaras room, but the blinds were closed, and the door to the living room. So far so good. To his right was a fire escape.

He climbed through the window on the balcony. Going through the living room may cause questions Naruto didn't want to answer now, and he didn't want to upset Gaara with the thought of a burglar. Especially not, when Naruto hoped that person would come again. Though he wished, it was Sakura - after all the chances weren't bad -, a small part of him didn't care _who_ that was, as long as he wouldn't be left by that person. Something deep inside of him yearned for that person.

The fire escape didn't reach the ground, but everyone from the green leaf would be able to get up and down there. That explained the noise and how that person came to him.

That day Gaara seemed to be pissed off by something, though whenever Naruto asked, what's the matter, he earned a glare or a simple "Nothing", sometimes followed by a "Everything is as it should be". Naruto didn't believe him at all. Maybe because every time the short-tempered redhead condescend to give an answer, he hissed or growled.

Naruto tried to stay all night long awake and feigned sleep, waiting for the person with those wonderful lips. His hopes weren't fulfilled.

Though the kyuubi hardly _ever _spoke to him - to be exact they spoke for three times until now, to confirm his existence, when he first met Gaara, and when Yahiko died - he heard him laughing.

"What's so funny?" Naruto wasn't in the best mood.

_"Never mind"_

The second night he wasn't able to stay awake. Surprisingly he felt those lips again after some time. Thanks to his lucid dreams, he was mentally prepared this time and feigned sleep until he was sure to be able to move his body. He reached for whoever that was, grabbed some cloth and snapped his eyes open.

* * *

To Gaaras luck it was cloudy and there weren't any lights on the backyard. Thusly the blond shouldn't be able to see him for at least two more minutes. Still he panicked, yanked his arm away and backed away through the window.

"Wait!" Naruto whispered hectic and sat up rapidly.

This time he really took the fire escape, fearing his fox would see through his distraction. Gaara still waited for the day, when the kyuubi decided to tell Naruto everything. He should definitely stop this.

Through the whole day Naruto seemed absentminded. Gaara wouldn't disturb his sleep anymore.

…

A whole week passed. It was surprising how calm he was. Yes, Shukaku was screaming louder than ever before and made his head explode, and the other demon seemed to try to rip his innards, but beside that everything was fine. Much better than it would be, if he'd lost Naruto for a second time.

Everything was just fine.

Fine.

That night Gaara didn't go over to Narutos window again. He sat beside his own window and listened to the sound of the summer night. He heard Naruto sobbing. Did the kyuubi tell him in the end? Well, maybe that was his deserved punishment. Losing his sun, that little light in his dark life. He touched his scar. Everything will have consequences once.

"Dear kami," Gaara heard his fox praying, "whoever that is, please don't let him hate me, okay?" There was a small sparkle of hope in Gaaras chest, but he didn't want to cherish it.

Another week passed.

That night he heard paper constantly flapping in the air. It pulled him again and again out of his thoughts. A note hung at Narutos window. The fox snored lightly. 'I didn't mean to hurt you. Please come back.' Gaara took the note with him to his room. Maybe another day. Not yet.

"Dear kami. I thank you for passing my message." By now Naruto had the habit to pray every evening. Another week had passed and Gaara still hadn't sit on his spot once again. The blond seemed to be more and more depressed day by day.

"Could you tell her … or him, that I won't try to look at her … or him anymore?"

It took some time till Gaara heard Naruto breathing deep and even. He wanted to take just a short peek at his fox and was somehow surprised to see the blond blindfolded sitting on the couch. Pathetic. And at the same time cute.

Before he knew what he did Gaara leaned in, reached for Narutos chin and stroke his jar absentminded with his thumb.

"Please don't leave again, yeah?" Naruto was still sleepy and voice cracked at the last part. The blond looked so small and fragile.

Gaara gave him a peck on his lips, leaned his forehead against his fox's and shook his head. He needed to talk with the kyuubi. It was all too good to be true.

* * *

Last night the person that defined his dreams came finally back.

From dream to dream the image changed. Once it was Hinata, once Ino, but mostly Sakura. God, he hated himself for that. But who can influence their dreams? Well, Jiraiya told him, when he concentrated enough, he would be able to affect his dreams, but it never worked out for Naruto. He would be glad if he would be able to do so, he wouldn't have to face dreams about his male friends from time to time, and could concentrate on Sakura. That was freaking! As much as he said, he didn't care for the gender of that mysterious person that he yearned for, as much he prayed for it to be Sakura.

She … Or he … He decided to call the person 'she'. She didn't speak to him and after that kiss and assurance to not leave him again, she didn't touch him again, but he felt her presence. Sometime Naruto must have fallen asleep, since the next thing he knew was that the sun shone in his face and the presence was gone. Cautious he lifted his blindfold and saw the window bench empty.

Still he was in a good mood and left his room still in his pajamas. It was his free day after all and no one would take his good mood. He took a glass water and sat down beside Gaara on the floor in the living room. The redhead also seemed to be in a rather good mood and sipped absentminded his coffee, a small smile on his face. Naruto tried to remember and took a mouthful of water. Did he ever saw Gaara _genuine _smiling before? Smirking yes, but smiling ...? Not only the faked smile for his patrons? What the …? Was it possible that he saw Gaara really smiling for the first time in his life?!

The redhead yanked him out of his musings. "Does the kyuubi ever talks to you?"

Naruto choked nearly on his water. "What?!" He coughed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I asked if-"

"No, no, no. I heard you. Just … You know, whenever I tried to talk about that whole demon stuff, you beat me up." His voice was still hoarse and he looked skeptical at Gaara. The redhead looked at the coffee in his hands in his lap and his posture seemed to shrink. "Four times."

Gaara looked back at Naruto and tilted his head in question.

"He spoke with me four times now. First: When I got to know of him. I thought that all was a lie until he said 'No. I'm here, little brat. I was always here and I will always be here. Don't you think you can escape.' Second: When I saw you for the first time. 'I know him,' were his words at my sick feeling after seeing you that close for the first time. Just as I already told you back then, I didn't know what he meant then."

The red haired teenager averted his eyes to his coffee again and looked somewhat hurt. "Was I really that bad then?"

Naruto nodded, but smiled cheerful. "Dunno anymore why I had that feeling, just that my stomach turned upside down. By the way, since you always beat me up when I talked about this stuff, you never _told_ me that there's really a demon in you," Naruto mused.

"He's called Shukaku. When were the other two times?"

"Huh- … Oh yeah! Third: When Yahiko died. I don't remember really anymore, but something about letting out my hate and killing and so on. I tried to shield him off. Also, that day was the first time I got drunk and … well … Seemingly I got a little problem of remembering things and control myself, when I'm drunk. On top of that I can't really hold my liquor. Had to learn on the hard tour. That time at Kiba's was the second time I drank alcohol and also the second time I got a blackout." He scratched sheepishly his head and sighed.

"Fourth?" Gaaras voice was almost a whisper and if Naruto hadn't know how Gaara was when he was a child, he would have thought the redhead feared to be beaten.

"A week after Kibas party." Gaara flinched. What was up? "Everything okay?" Gaara nodded. Naruto noticed that his cup was empty, a rare thing. "Want another coffee?" Gaara shook his head. Something was certainly off.

"Just continue," Gaara said with a monotone voice.

"Well, he didn't really say something at the beginning. Just laughed. And when I asked him why, he said, 'Never mind'. That was it."

Gaara left for the kitchen and Naruto mused what to do with his free day and if he should take the opportunity to ask Gaara more about that 'Shukaku' or if that would ruin his mood.

"Anything planned for today, sweetie?" He called the redhead sometimes so. The girlish look he had as a child and the constant sweet smell that surrounded Gaara gave him that nickname, but Naruto would never admit that he noticed latter. After the first time he called his friend that way, he had a big bruise on his arm that didn't heal for more than a week, but by now the redhead didn't budge anymore on that nickname.

No reaction means no. He came back and sat down beside Naruto.

"So, will you beat me up again when I want to talk about this whole demon-stuff and so on?"

Gaara shook his head and his expression was somber all of a sudden. "But I still don't like it. Don't expect me to answer any of your questions." Naruto sighed and let himself fall back on the carpet. Gaara in contrast stood up. "Maybe you should start with asking the kyuubi for his name?" He left for his room and Naruto didn't hear any sound for hours.

* * *

Last night nothing particular happened. He let Naruto know, he was there by ruffling through his hair once, but didn't touch the boy after that anymore.

Regardless of that the blond was in a good mood the following day. In a calm minute he sat down at the counter and watched Gaara intensely. It made him nervous, but he was able to hide it. Naruto was the only person that saw his moods change at all, but some things Gaara was still able to hide from him.

His fox sighed. Wasn't he happy just moments ago? "Say, can you still do that with the sand? I mean, like floating and so on? Didn't see any sand at all, neither here nor upstairs." Luckily the blond spoke low enough to be not heard by anyone expect Gaara.

He smirked. How much he wanted to show him what he was able to do … But he just let a bit slip over the counter, up Narutos arm and over his delightful neck. Damn, he lost his mind too often. The sand retreated on an instant into the air, the cloud not massive enough to be seen by anyone, and back to its original spots. Naruto looked amazed at him.

"Guess you improved, huh?" The blond beamed at him. So many firsts. The boy was also the first one who wasn't disgusted by his ability.

Days passed and it was the beginning of august by now. Gaara still hadn't come to any clue why the kyuubi hadn't told Naruto anything. He wanted to talk to the fox, but didn't know how. That special night, when the kyuubi had the control over Narutos body was the only time Gaara saw his friend controlled, and the kyuubi didn't take over his body when he slept. Should he make him drunk …?

Hell, why provoke anything while everything was so nice right now? The kyuubi was a goddamn demon and whoever tried to find reasoning in a demons thinking was insane. Well, Gaara had to admit there was actual little that made him sane. He wanted answers, but trying to force the kyuubi out of his comfort-zone - since he didn't tell Naruto anything he apparently was in his comfort-zone - may make things worse than they are.

It wasn't really how he wanted it to be, but at least he was able to kiss his fox now every night without much to fear. To be exact, right now Gaara sat on his lap, his knees on both sides of Naruto, the blonds hands were on his hips and Gaaras rested on Narutos shoulders.

The blond gasped for air when their swollen lips parted. But Gaara didn't like the feeling deep down in his stomach, whenever he looked at the blindfold. He yearned to see if Narutos eyes looked with the same lust at him like they did, when it had been the kyuubi.

* * *

**A/N2:** Better with spacing and so on this time? :D

* * *

Edited 10/07/2013:  
Minor changes and grammatical issues.


	11. Chapter 10: Forget it, like a dream

**Warning: **Lime & Lemon! Lemon is also marked in text.

**EDIT 07/07/2013:**  
**Lemon deleted!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: ****Forget it, like a dream**  


"From next Friday on Kankuro will stay with you for a week." Temari looked over the rim of her brew and smiled slyly at Gaara, who in return sighed.

"Weren't you his favorite sibling?" He didn't want to think about his brother staying at his apartment. His eyes trailed off to the blond waiter.

Temari cleared her throat. "He wants to spend more time with his little brother and we both know there're two vacant rooms in your apartment."

This conversation was already annoying him. "One. And there's no free couch or bed."

"Oh?" Temari raised an eyebrow. "Are you two not that far yet?" She giggled behind her hand. Gaara already knew that she knew something, but not, how much.

"I don't know what you mean," he hissed at her.

"Oh, you know too well." She gave him a teasing smile. "Don't think your big sister don't get your first love!"

Love? She Hit him offhanded. Did he _love_ Naruto? No, that -

Before he was able to answer anything, she emptied her cup, stood up, gave his fox a wink and left the café. Naruto turned to face him and gave him one of his best smiles. One week to go until Kankuro made his live harder than it was already.

…

Like every evening Gaara pulled his piercing out of his lip and put it on the table in his room. As much as he liked that little piece of metal, it was too traitorous. He felt his stomach sink. Maybe he should tell Naruto just what happened. It wouldn't go on forever like it was now. But not today. He climbed through his window and sat on the window sill of Narutos room. He knew he didn't make any sound - an ability he had already before transferring school -, but soon after he sat on his place, his fox started to smile. Naruto looked inviting to Gaara, how he lay on the couch with his hands behind his head. He leaned in and gave him a kiss on his forehead to prove him of his presence.

…

Four more days were to go and Gaara felt his fox under his touches burning. Their kissing became wilder and more demanding, but he still didn't know, if there was the same burning desire in Narutos eyes. He took a deep breath and tugged at the blindfold, but his hands were caught by Narutos. The blond shook his head and pulled him closer.

"Let me decide when I'll see you," Naruto whispered in his ear. A whole assortment of feelings flooded Gaara and he wasn't able to name or describe most of them. Some of them were good and some bad, but the strongest one was an almost unbearable pressure in his chest.

…

Two more days. Naruto tugged at the hem of Gaaras t-shirt. His fox grew more bold from day to day. It was a wonder the blond didn't know yet, who he was with every night. Gaara brushed Narutos hands off, who pouted in return, but the blonds protest died in his throat as he felt a hand gliding over his crotch.

Gaara pushed him down to lie on his back and unbuttoned Narutos pants. Two more days and Kankuro would be there. Two more days and he wouldn't be able anymore to visit his fox every night. Gaara knew this wouldn't be the last time he wanted to make his fox moan and whimper, and the apartment wasn't sound-proof enough to fool Kankuro, and Kankuro wasn't as discreet as Temari.

"What are you do-" The voice died as lips met lips and was soon followed by a muffled moan, when finger slid over his length.

The pace of the hand moving up and down increased. Gaara searched for the delicate spot on his neck. Narutos panting grew more and more to moaning when he found the spot. An experimental nibble caused a rather loud moan. He still liked that at least. The sounds his fox made send a shiver down his spine.

It didn't take long until the blond moved against his hand, desperately for a faster pace and more friction. Finally he shivered and twitched under him and arched into his hand, groaning like an animal. This was different, it was faster. Way faster.

Gaara took a deep breath and made his decision. Some day he needed to tell him, whether Naruto wanted or not. Gaara wasn't able to live with that lie much longer. It tugged at his mind all the time, throwing him back to old times he rather wanted to forget. He should start … Slow. Not horrify him too much at once. Gaara removed his hand from Narutos pants, reached with his not soiled one for Narutos and pulled it against his chest. Let him feel. He's not Sakura or any other girl the blond imagined.

"Your heart is racing," his fox whispered matter-of-factly, stunning Gaara. No complaints? What about his oh-so-perfect Sakura? And what about him not having - well - boobs?

"And you're male," he added sheepishly grinning. There it was, and his grin was forced. Gaara flinched back. He knew it would happen. Narutos reaction was better than anything he imagined. Still it hurt.

"Wait!" The blond grabbed for the wrist of the hand that hold his just seconds ago. Naruto sighed. "We - … You - … I … I just need some time … to get things in my head … sorted. Yeah, sorted." He let go off Gaaras hand. "Okay?"

Gaara left Naruto without any answer. He also needed time to think.

* * *

Thursday, his free day. Naruto lay musing in the living room, his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. His mysterious lover took him to the next step, was male, Gaara was missing again without any reason or hint where he is, and nothing to distract his mind.

He certainly had not to go searching for the redhead. Naruto didn't know the reason, but Gaara most likely needed time for himself. It was a little wonder that the boy was able to take so much people around him by now. Six years earlier he would have freaked out after one hour at most, now it were weeks before he disappeared to some hidden spot. It was just fair to let him have time for himself now. Gaara also wasn't _that_ skinny anymore by now, so Naruto didn't need to fear that he would collapse somewhere. Gaara would come back by evening, unlike Sakura.

Naruto already knew that those wonderful lips and hands weren't Sakuras. Her parents told him she went searching for Sasuke. He sighed. Of course, it was always Sasuke and it will always be Sasuke for her. Strangely it didn't affect him much that it wasn't Sakura, just like when she was the only person he was able to contact after leaving the green leaf. But it hurt him that she didn't tell him or ask, if he wanted to go with her after Sasuke. Even though he and Sasuke had some struggles to get along at first, the black-haired boy was a dear friend to him.

It was almost as if he felt the same way about Sakura as he did about Sasuke. Was he even really in love with her? He didn't know anymore. Before that damned night at Kibas party, everything was so easy. He was in love with Sakura, she flirted sometimes with him, but both of them were too uncertain, if the other one felt the same way, and no one did a move. That was at least, how Naruto thought about it.

It was the same almost disturbing indifference about the gender of his lover. It wasn't really bothering him. Naruto didn't really know what to do, when both parts were male, but last night … There was that feeling deep in him telling him that he couldn't care less about the gender. Only yearning for that lips, hands, body was in his mind. But why now? All those almost 19 long years of his life he knew, he was straight, for sure. Almost half of his life he knew, he loved Sakura, for sure. And now? One month and everything was upside down.

The kyuubi snickered inside him. It was disturbing how the demon was amused by his insecurity about the love of his life and his sexuality. The snicker evolved to a full-fledged laughter. _"It would be really funny to hear you thinking like that if it wasn't so sad at the same time."_

"What?" he snapped. As always, when the kyuubi started to talk, he wasn't in the mood for conversations. Wait, Gaara told him to get to know about him. Maybe he should just play along.

_"You're dull. Don't know how two males have sex?" _The demon snickered again, as if remembering something certain.

"No," Naruto answered sighing, "I don't know if you didn't notice, but I wasn't into guys before at all, you know?"

_"Yeah, yeah, yeah … Shall I tell you a bit then? Well, where shall I start? Ah, yes! Well, …"_

Narutos eyes widened at the talk the demon gave him. It wasn't the boring bees-and-flowers-talk, but rather … pictorial. It made his heart beat faster. "And then …?"

_"Yes."_ Naruto almost saw the kyuubi grinning slyly.

"But - No! That's … God, no, I even don't know how to call it! Just - no! … Doesn't it hurt?" Narutos curiosity surprised himself.

_"Don't know what you're talking about. It certainly feels good. Both ways."_

"You …?"

_"Of course! Don't underestimate me, brat!"_

"And I-?"

_"You'll like it."_

Despite the theme of their conversation Naruto was unordinary calm now. Saying, they were talking about him doing someone's ass … Or someone doing his. If anything other than calm, he was maybe curious. But not afraid, not at all. Should he be afraid that he wasn't afraid? No … Everything seemed … Right. "How do you know?"

_"Just believe me, you'll like it …"_

"…"

_"…"_

"By the way, what's your name?"

_"Kurama."_

* * *

It was already dark when Gaara came back. He closed the door to his apartment silently. Was Naruto already sleeping? Usually he wouldn't be at this time. At least his fox didn't notice him coming back. Gaara was relieved that Naruto either didn't go searching him or didn't find him. Latter was rather unlikely since he spend his day at the old greenhouse again. He remembered that day years ago, when Sakura and Sasuke came to stop him on his way to Naruto. His lover-boy they called Naruto then. Gaara chuckled ironically to himself. If it would be that easy.

His piercing still lay cold on his table. Last night he didn't put it on again. He was too distracted from what just happened and what it would mean to him - to them - and left the apartment immediately as silent as he came back.

Well, at least he was able to hope now, that the last problem was that it was _him_. Gaara. A monster. Naruto said so himself. Naruto said, he felt sick, when he first saw him. Gaara didn't really know what to do. His demons were silent when he was with Naruto. No … Not anymore. They were even louder when he was just beside the blond. He needed to touch him to make them silent. He needed to kiss the blond, to touch him and to draw those fascinating sounds from him. All this only to make them silent.

One week. He wouldn't touch and kiss him for a whole week. At this thought Shukakus screaming became louder and sharper. The other demon was whimpering. Gaara left his room through his window and sat down on the sill in front of Naruto like always. Naruto was sitting on the couch and certainly not asleep. As if the blond had a sixth sense for his presence, he started to beam at him as soon as Gaara sat on his spot. So at least the hope he had became true. The smile wasn't forced and Naruto didn't look angry at all.

"You there?" As if Naruto still had to ask. It was obvious that he had that sixth sense. A slight kick against his knee was Gaaras answer.

"Ow! No need to get violent!" The blond chuckled. "You know, you start to remember me at someone …" Finally.

Gaara looked down at his hands in his lap. He already saw Naruto running out of his room, his apartment, his life. Forever. Never coming back.

"Never mind."

Gaara startled. Of course. No one would think about him in that way. And the last one, who would ever do, would be Naruto. The screaming and whimpering in him became even louder. Together with the suffocating feeling in his chest there was no other way. He literally jumped at Naruto, causing him to lie on his back and pressed his lips against his fox's, and Naruto responded, though hesitant. His hands came up to Gaaras face and cupped his cheeks. Slowly Naruto pushed him away, but only a little bit. He wanted to kiss him again, but Naruto hold him firm.

"Hey … What's up? Why are you crying?" Naruto asked him careful with a low voice.

He was right, Gaaras cheeks were wet. Was he crying? He didn't know. How did it feel, when he cried? He remembered. It didn't really feel similar to that feeling now, no. Somehow right and somehow false. When was the last time he cried? That day when Naruto found him in the greenhouse. That day this pain was also in him, but less strong. He didn't really cry that day, though. There were just tears because of his throbbing scar. No, he wasn't crying now. Not because of Naruto and what he made him feel. Not again. No, he wasn't crying.

Finally he shook his head. His fox allowed him to move again and lowered his hands to his upper arms.

Naruto jumped, when their lips crashed against each other. Gaara didn't rest long on his lips, but went for the sensitive spot on Narutos neck. One day left. He didn't tell Naruto until now about Kankuro. Would he find out, it was him that visited him every night, when he stopped?

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. The birds chirping was the first he heard, and the blue sky the first he saw, like every morning. He woke up from pure darkness, he didn't dream last night. He felt still sleepy, but at the same time more refreshed than usual. His mind was still numb and he stared at the sky for several moments. Something was missing this morning … The anchorman. He didn't hear Gaara return last night.

Before he was able to muse further about the missing redhead, he noticed something heavy and warm lying half beside him, half on his chest. Oh, last night …

Naruto didn't realize at all that he actually _saw_ something, in difference to the night, before he saw the vibrant blood-red hair. His body tensed. Naruto never saw him sleeping before, but his sleep apparently wasn't very deep. The hand of the pale boy that rested on his chest twitched and his eyes fluttered open. One long moment passed before he lifted his head. Blue eyes stared back at greens. Then the redhead suddenly jerked up, pushed himself in the farthest away corner of the couch and curled up in a small sitting ball, his body rigid. He looked like a threatened animal that feared for its life. Peeking over his knees he observed Naruto wary. Naruto sat up.

"Gaara …" The redhead hid his eyes behind his knees. "Oh fuck!" Naruto cursed. "I … Oh god! You don't know how sorry I am," he sobbed and reached for Gaara. And he really was. He wanted to protect the boy, not doing _that_.

Apparently he failed on the whole line - Gaara flinched back from his touch.

"I'm a monster … In the end all the talk about me being a demon is right, isn't it?" Naruto whispered more to himself than to Gaara.

The redhead lifted his head enough to watch him with narrowed eyes, but Naruto wasn't able to look into those mesmerizing green orbs.

"My first time and I rape an underage kid," Naruto chuckled sarcastically. He buried his head in his hands and his voice was shaky. "You don't know how sorry I am." How could he be so cruel? Doing this to-

"No, no and no." The somber tone in Gaaras voice made Naruto startle. He looked with teary eyes at Gaara, who still sat in the same position.

"Wha-?" Naruto wasn't really able to get what the silent redhead wanted to tell him.

"You didn't rape me. And I'm not underage." There was an awkward silence. Narutos brain tried to understand what Gaara said to him, but didn't came to any conclusion.

"See - When someone wants to sleep with you, you don't rape this person," Gaara explained calm.

"I know that much," Naruto returned lame, "but … And … I thought you were 16, at maximum." He was still a bit stunned.

Gaaras brows furrowed, but then he chuckled low. "So that's why you called me a kid always. I'm 21."

"That means …" Naruto used his fingers to count. He didn't trust his brain yet again. "You were … 15 when we met?!" Gaara nodded. "But! You were so small and fragile! And you looked like a fucking girl! No teenage boy looks like a girl! Well, shouldn't look like a girl!"

Gaara shrugged and he started to relax. "Wasn't ever a big eater. I thought you noticed that."

"But now - I thought you hit puberty and had a growth spurt."

The redhead smirked. "When I didn't grow at all in the first two years at the green leaf, some people became suspicious. Our father left me in my siblings care when we left Suna and - well, let's say Kankuro _feared_ our father and what he might do, when something fires back at him. Namely the bad shape of one of his sons, or better, that he doesn't care for him. Our father has to maintain a certain image after all. And so Kankuro prayed that not everything was lost with me and force-fed me for more than a year."

Somewhere in between Naruto lost himself in his thoughts. He imagined himself at age 16 with a 16 years-old Gaara beside him. He already somehow looking like the young man he was now and a petite Gaara in his arms. Jiraiya wouldn't have ever stopped to tease him. But then - when Naruto was 16, Gaara was already 19. Still the image was in his head and it was … cute. And it made his body react. He jumped up and searched for his clothes before Gaara would be able to notice anything and put his pants on.

"Hm, wasn't there a third 'no'? What was it about again? God, I'm really no morning person," Naruto joked, though he really didn't quite remember what the third no was about. Gaara tensed and averted his eyes to the floor.

"It wasn't your first time." Gaaras voice was somber.

Naruto furrowed his brows. "How comes that you do know, but I not?" He was slightly irritated. There wasn't any way except for-

"The night you were at Kibas party. You jumped literally at me." The redheads eyes were directed at him again and let no space for thinking that his words were lies. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Gaara didn't answer.

"I'm _so _sorry. I-" As he saw that the redhead had his head buried in his arms again and pushed himself even further back into his corner at his words, Naruto put the rest of his clothes on. He took his bag and reached for Gaara to ruffle his hair one last time, but flinched back.

Then he left the room, the apartment, Gaaras life. He would try to forget all, what happened those last two months. As if all was a dream.

* * *

**A/N:** **THIS IS NOT FINISHED YET!**

I'm very sorry for the rather slow update … There were conditions I couldn't ignore and afterwards I had to pay my mum a visit. Her effect on me is always … cataclysmic … Well, cast away the unpleasant things! I cleaned my twitter-account and will post about the current progress of chapters there. Link is in my profile.

Never the less - Thanks a lot for your reviews and PM's! You helped me a lot to decide how to shape my new project. As for now, it will be angst/romance and goes under the name "Finding Neverland".

About the current chapter:

What do you think both of them reacted the way they did?

For next chapter(s):

I planned on letting Sakura and Sasuke making an appearance! What do you think about that? What will happen?

I'm also planning on writing the next lemon from Narutos POV. Would you prefer him being top or bottom? ;)

**And as always I'm already starving for your reviews!**

* * *

Edited 10/07/2013:  
Minor changes and grammatical issues.


	12. Chapter 11: Swallow

**A/N: **This chapter may cause some "What the …" moments. Just to warn you. Things are very fast.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Swallow**

Unfortunately Naruto usually didn't forget his dreams.

Well, he forgot them like he forgets other things, like buying milk or so. When they were trivial, the memory of them would fade after a few hours, but when they carved themselves into his brain, he would never forget them.

What he experienced with Gaara was one of the things he would _never_ forget. Not that he really wanted to erase the memory of those months from his head, and that made him feel guilty. That he actually liked what he did, while he didn't knew, what he did. He would to learn to get over what happened, but nothing more, erasing the longing and preserving the guilt. It would take him a lot of time, that was for sure. If everything would go on perfectly from now on, maybe a year or two. He sat down at the fountain, where he met up with Sakura, when he came back to Konoha, and his thoughts still lingered at the redhead. Maybe five years.

His thoughts were a mess, even less understandable for himself than usual. He tried to calm down and find a point to start to put them into words. That helped always when his thoughts rotated in his head. Start with the easy understandable things.

Twenty-one. Depending on his birthday, Gaara was at least two years older than Naruto. He thought back at his time at the green leaf - how he met him for the first time. No wonder, he thought then that his voice was too deep. It wasn't the voice of a 10-year old, but 15-year old. He tried to recall other moments that indicated on Gaaras age. The first time the kid - no, teenager - saw snow. Naruto knew it already then, but something really bad must have happened in his childhood. You don't have a relapse into infantile attitude in that age anymore, when everything was nice when you were a child. And then how he talked about Christmas. Telling Naruto that his family celebrated Christmas without him and that he doesn't care anymore. Even Naruto, who was an orphan and his whole life till then an outcast, was treated better!

So much about easy understandable things. God, how he wanted to run back, press Gaara against his chest and whisper sweet words into his ear.

But he won't go. As much as he liked him, Gaara was obviously devastated by the thought that Naruto didn't remember their first night, despite what Naruto did to him. 'You jumped literally at me.'… Even though Gaara said, Naruto didn't force him now, he did it then, and that was unforgivable. He wouldn't stain Gaara anymore from now on. Temari told him on their first meeting. Gaara was fine without him and he wasn't wanted. He should have listened to her. He wasn't needed. No, he was making everything even worse. He afflicted Gaara way too long. Thinking how he must have felt, when Naruto didn't say anything after that first night …

Simply going now may have not been the best decision, but Naruto just didn't know what to do else. His mind was blank then except for 'go away before you hurt him even more'. Going back now also wasn't the right thing to do. There need to be a clean cut from now on, giving Gaara the chance to forget what cruel things Naruto did to him. He would be able to do so, he was strong by now. He had Temari and Kankuro. He was stronger than Naruto ever was and ever will be.

"N-Naruto?" A high-pitched voice pulled him out of his dark thoughts. He lifted his head and saw Hinata looking down at him worried. He put on a smile, though it was only a fake.

"Hey, what's up Hinata?" he asked, imitating a cheerful tone. Her face lightened up a tiny bit and she sat down beside him. Naruto hoped she wouldn't ask how he was doing.

She was fidgeting beside him, but then, as if reading his thoughts, she started to chat about all different things. How she met with Ino yesterday and that the blonde girl always says she's envious of her, but that she don't understand what Ino's talking about and then that there was something odd about Neji lately. Naruto was even able to laugh at her story about Akamaru knocking over Shinos insect boxes and freeing about twenty Iris oratoria - at this point she had to explain him that this was a sort of mantis that is especially know for its cannibalism - and that they had to capture them before the screaming and shouting Shino would totally freak out. It didn't fit to Shino at all to scream, shout and freak out, and so Naruto was soon laughing and holding his belly at her lively explanations.

"And then Akamaru sniffed at one of them and it pinched him into his nose!" she continued her story. The more she spoke the less she stuttered, Naruto noticed. She smiled genuinely at him when her cell phone suddenly rang. She widened her eyes at the name of the caller, made an apologetic face at him and answered her phone.

"Hey, something new?" Her voice was tensed and careful. Naruto wasn't able to hear the response. Hell, he didn't want to eavesdrop, but she was sitting directly beside him!

"What?! … Yeah, okay, I'm there asap." She gave Naruto a glance, listened to whoever she was talking with and suddenly she blushed. "Y-yeah, I-I'll bring h-him … S-sure!" She sighed, closed her cell phone and looked pleading at him before averting her eyes, the blush still on her face.

"Y-you have to d-do me a f-favor and c-come with me, p-please." She stood up and rushed away. Naruto had some struggles to follow her first, but when she noticed he wasn't directly beside her, she slowed down.

"What's up, Hinata? Where're we going?"

"Sakura."

"Saku- WHAT? She's back?!"

Hinata simply nodded. "And she didn't come back alone," she added, now confident again and without stuttering, her voice as somber as her expression. They weren't far away from where Sakura lived when they started, and were now dashing the stairs up. Before Naruto could think about her words and answer, Hinata flung the door open.

There in the corridor of Sakuras apartment he was. Pale skin, black hair and black eyes that stared at him wary. Sasukes expression was … cold. His eyes lacked concentration after the first glance. He looked, as if he wasn't really there.

"Naruto?" Sasukes voice was ripped off any emotion and barely more than a whisper. No, he wasn't right, there weren't no emotions … There was something, deep hidden within, though he wasn't able to tell what it was.

Naruto only nodded, his mouth was suddenly too dry to speak. Something in the teenagers aura send a unpleasing shiver down his spine. Sasuke turned away from him and went to Sakuras room. The pink-haired girl's eyes followed him until he disappeared behind the door and sighed.

"Anyone want a coffee?"

…

Sasuke was still in Sakuras room when Naruto sipped on his second cup of tea, sitting on the sofa in the living room. The smell of Sakuras coffee remembered him at Gaara. It will be very hard to not think about him on every little occasion. Sakura sighed again and looked at the open door to the corridor.

"All he was talking about before leaving was 'Itachi'. And now all he's talking about, when he's _ever_ talking, is you, Naruto," she said and looked at him sternly.

Naruto furrowed his brows. "Who's that 'Itachi'?"

"Someone who's dead," she said dry and pulled a folder out of the bag that rested beside her. She opened it, took out an article and handed it to Naruto. It was mainly a photo of a young man, not older than thirty, and a headline, 'Itachi Uchiha found murdered in his house. Police searches for witnesses.'

Naruto gulped hard. "He looks like Sasuke, somehow," he managed to say with a hoarse voice. 'Murdered' didn't sound good.

"He's his brother. The incident happened half a year ago and the murderer isn't found yet," Sakura informed him, "I found out about this shortly after Kibas birthday and … well, wasn't able to sit here and wait calmly anymore." She gave Naruto a bittersweet smile. Naruto asked himself even more why she didn't ask him for help. Apparently she was in contact with Hinata the whole time - the girl wasn't fazed at all by what happened. Hinata excused herself then, feeling the tension between the old friends, and left the apartment.

"Two days ago someone called me and asked for you, Naruto. I told him that I didn't see you for some weeks and then he suddenly became nervous. He said 'go back and throw his fucking ass in a bus to his uncle and me, there's some freak in front of the house calling out for him the whole time'. Because of his discomposure I wasn't able to ask about his name until then. He told me his name is Nagato and was slightly … pissed, if I may say so, that I didn't know about him. Frankly, I explained him, I didn't know how _he_ knew about me and where he got my number from. He started with 'Naruto and I-' and then the line was cut off.  
Well, I looked up your uncles address and went there since I wasn't that far away anyway. I guess you can tell who I found in front of your house." Naruto nodded slowly.

"Since then he didn't speak a single word to me." Her voice cracked with her last words and she looked disheartened, tears welling up in her eyes. "I thought he would warm up, when he sees you, but now I'm only afraid that actually something might happen that will harm you. First he's all about Itachi and a year later that man was dead. Now he's behaving like an animal in a cage and freaking all out about you."

If it wouldn't be Sakura that he was talking with, Naruto would try to put this down as a prank. Well, he was talking with Sakura and she wouldn't ever play any pranks on him. Especially not when Sasuke was also involved. "So you think Sasuke killed his own brother and I'm next? But why?!"

Sakura frowned angrily. "No, I don't think he's capable of doing so. He's a nervous wreck right now. When he doesn't calm down within the next few days, I think we'll need to bring him to a psychotherapist. No, I've more the feeling that he has some kind of sixth sense or so." She looked at the open door again. It tugged at Narutos heart to see her so disheartened and hurt. There was a moment of rather awkward silence before Sakura spoke again. Naruto didn't feel like talking much on his own this day and took another sip of his tea.

"And how's Gaara doing?"

He chocked nearly on the tea and coughed. How did she- Why did she ask about _him_? Wasn't he something like her arch-enemy or so? Though he still didn't really know what Sakura had against Gaara in particular. And there he was thinking about him again. Naruto glared unconscious halfhearted at her for changing the topic.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Did anything happen? Now that I'm thinking about, it's strange that you've such a big bag with you. Don't you live with him?"

"How did you know?" Naruto was genuine surprised. Realization hit him and his eyes widened. "Oh god! Sorry I never told you, but he was the first person that I met by coincidence and I didn't know where to stay anywhere else and he already moved his couch from his living room to another room for me and then Ino found out or rather pressed it out of me and told me to not tell you and - yeah," he trailed off.

Sakura furrowed her brows and concentrated to be able to understand his rant. Her features softened at the end. "Kibas party. I brought you back home, but I guess you don't remember. So now, spill what that bag is for." Again Kibas party. How can one night change so much?

"Uhm …" Naruto searched for words, put his cup down on the table, leaned back into the sofa and tried to smile. "We had … a little misunderstanding. At the moment I'm sorta homeless."

She sighed angry. "Don't tell me he's violent towards you again."

"No! No, no … It's rather … The other way round?", he sighed, "And I think it's best for him when I'm not a part of his life anymore."

Sakuras eyes widened, but then she laughed. "I told you to leave that freak alone six years ago." Her laughter became piercing. Apparently they both weren't in a good condition. It took Sakura some moments to calm down, but she still chuckled shrill. "That must be some misunderstanding. Causing you, Uzumaki Naruto, to back off from someone! That's it for me!" She laughed again before becoming finally serious. "I guess I call Lee if you can stay with him and Neji because of Sasuke." She stood up and leaved the living room.

…

Naruto lay in Lees dark living room. He was alone in the apartment. Lee was out, meeting some costumer. Working as a personal trainer demands for late hours sometimes he said, and though it was already dark, it wasn't that late yet. The energetic young man said, he would be back at 10, meaning two more hours of tormenting silence and being extradited to his thoughts for Naruto.

He tried to distract himself with watching TV, but in the end, he looked at the machine, but didn't see anything and heard, but didn't listen. Whenever he closed his eyes, hurt green eyes stared back at him.

His thoughts started there, where they end this noon. He started to understand the redhead more and more. His attitude of those last weeks. The tension between them after the night they first kissed - well their first kiss, that Naruto remembered. When Naruto asked Gaara what's bothering him. 'Nothing, everything is as it should be.' Hell, as if! Nothing was, as it should be! Naruto destroyed everything they had without even knowing or remembering it. But …

What _did_ they actually have? A friendship? Friends usually didn't fuck each other … What was it?

Thinking back, he liked the redhead badly already in the old times, when they spend their afternoons and evenings at the greenhouse. The boy invoked his protective instinct. He was so light and fragile, his skin was so pale and soft, his hair so mesmerizing. After the Gaara was ill and Naruto had touched his hair for the first time, he found himself often enough wondering about his chances to survive after caressing his hair once more. And how quiet but at the same time short-tempered he was. A big enigma that Naruto wanted, but wasn't able to understand and solve. He wanted Gaara to laugh, run and play like other kids. Find friends and someone he would be able to trust and maybe even love. Just like the kanji on his forehead indicated. The kanji he thought first of a tattoo, but that was a scar. Old thoughts resurfaced. Was the scar self inflicted or did someone that to Gaara? What was the meaning behind it? And why was it still so deep red, as if only a few days old?

Through the five and a half years he was away from Konoha, Gaara was the one, who dominated his thoughts. His green eyes followed him in his dreams and they still did it from time to time. Just how couldn't he realize it were Gaaras eyes he remembered from that fateful night? Those stunning green eyes that looked up at him from dark sheets with that intense look of discomfort. Without his knowing the memory became clearer. Discomfort. Did he look last night the same way?

Days passed and everything was gray. Gray, red and green were the only colors Naruto was still able to see. Lee coaxed Neji in giving Naruto a job as a part-time cook in his little restaurant, but life didn't seem to be the same anymore. He went to work, spend his time at work and helped TenTen with whatever dish she needed to prepare, went back to Lee's apartment and slept until he had to go again. His beetle-browed friend didn't like to see him that way and tried to cheer him up with his usual speaks about youth and spring an love. TenTen was obviously making jokes all the time, but nothing made Naruto smile, not to speak of laughing. Why didn't he let Gaara remove the blindfold again? Yeah, he was thrilled by the thought not to know who that was on top of him. In the end he was simply so used to it that he forgot about it.

But live had to go on.

The number of patrons in the restaurant at his working times increased dramatically and Neji soon offered him to work full time. Apparently his cooking skills were better than he imagined. Though Naruto couldn't care less, he accepted. He had to pay back the favor Lee did him with living with him. And this way he hadn't that much time to think at least. Was it that what Konan felt when Yahiko died? He was able to understand her now somehow.

However, whenever he saw someone with red hair or green eyes, his heart skipped a beat. Luckily he didn't spend much time outside of the kitchen and apparently nobody in Konoha had that vibrant red hair or those deep green eyes, except for one person, which wasn't really fond of eating, even more not outside of his realms. The only one that was close to him was Sakura. Her pink hair looked close to red and her eyes were green, though not really the green he wanted to see so badly, but wasn't able to see ever again.

He had let Gaara go and that was the right thing to do. Just … was he eating enough? Did he get enough rest?

About a month after he started working at Nejis restaurant, Sakura visited him at work. They didn't really talk after the day that Sasuke came back to Konoha. Naruto was just never in the mood to contact her, and she apparently likewise.

She had that bittersweet smile on her face. Naruto knew, something was wrong, and he took off for the rest of the evening. Neji cursed him because some patrons knew about him and his skills and wanted their dishes to be cooked by him, and only by him, but in the end the arrogant brunette was their friend and understood.

"Thanks," Sakura said once they were outside. They walked quietly for some time through empty streets and suddenly she snuffed and buried her face in Narutos chest. Startled he embraced her careful and patted her back.

"Shhh …" he tried to calm her down, but she started to cry harder. Naruto sighed low and continued to pat her back. "Just let it all out. You know, when you want to talk, I'm here," he whispered to her.

"Sasuke, he's … Totally ignoring me." Again that bastard Sasuke! All he was doing, was hurting Sakura, and he could do as much about that, as Sakura could do about his own colorless life. Nothing. "He's still in the psychiatry." Yeah, Neji told him about that. A few days after he started working at the restaurant they gave Sasuke into medical care. "At least he's talking now. He's asking for you." She lifted her head and smiled sad at him, tears running down her cheeks. With his thumbs he wiped them softly away. "You should go visit him someday."

Naruto nodded slightly and they continued their walk. It wasn't until about midnight that he was at home. Most of the time they didn't speak, but the silence was comforting and they understood each other also without words.

…

From that day on, Sakura came over more often. One day, before Naruto had to work, she led him to the psychiatry finally. They didn't have to wait long until they were allowed to see Sasuke. His doctor said, from the beginning he was stable enough to see visitors, but that his over-all condition wasn't satisfactory at all. Sakura and Naruto entered Sasukes room. The black-haired teenager sat on his bed, his eyes fixated on a book. He lifted his eyes and observed them. Then his head followed and his face lit up. At least he wasn't mentally absent like last time.

"Naruto?" His question was hesitant. Naruto nodded bewildered at the same question he answered already weeks before. Sasuke put his book beside jumped literally at him, throwing his arms around Narutos chest and pulling him in a firm hug.

"You're back. You're really back! And that when I was about to go to search for you! But now you're here," the black-haired teen chirped, confusing Naruto even more. He throw a confused look to Sakura, but she also looked as perplexed as he imagined himself. Sasuke pouted and removed his hands from Narutos back to cup his cheeks.

"Look at me," he said and tilted Narutos head to face him. Sasuke bit his lip and eyed Naruto up. "You've grown quite a bit in those four and a half years," the slightly taller teen growled soft. Four and a half years? What was Sasuke talking about? Half-lidded obsidian eyes locked with sapphire. "You know, I was barely able to wait until I would be able to go searching for you. But now you're here."

With that Sasuke pressed his lips against Narutos. It was just a short kiss, but Naruto heard Sakura collapse behind him. He would like nothing better than to do the same, but his legs didn't even feel like pudding. The black-haired teenager embraced him again and rested his head on Narutos shoulder.

"I love you," Sasuke whispered into Narutos ear, "loved you all this time. It hurt that you didn't contact me but Sakura. But now you're here. Not with Sakura." Sasukes hand ran up trough golden locks.

So much about being stable. "Uhm, Sasuke, why don't you sit down and I'll get us something to drink? What about this?" Naruto asked careful choosing the right words. Sasuke backed off, jumped on his bed and smiled expectant at Naruto while rocking his legs. Okay, now get Sakura out of here and call someone before he notices anything. He lifted the girl in bridal-style. Sasuke observed him the whole time and Naruto was about to leave the room when the black-haired teen began to speak.

"By the way, did you come here right after coming back to Konoha? Or why do you have that big bag with you? And isn't it a bit unpractical to carry it that way?" he mused. Somehow everything seemed so slow. Narutos thoughts rotated in his head. Did he just call Sakura a _bag_?

"Uhm, yeah, I came here right after leaving the bus! And the strap tore, that's all," he said lifting Sakuras arm slash 'torn strap' . Naruto was shocked how easy this lie came over his lips, but still glad that Sasuke didn't ask why he doesn't leave the 'bag' in his room.

"Ah, okay. Oh, get me a strawberry-milk, please!" Strawberry. _Why_ strawberry? Naruto winced at the memory. 'Sweetie' he had called Gaara because of his smell. Always smelling like strawberries … How didn't he recognize the smell when Gaara came to him those nights? Hell, even the god-damned lube he bought on the Kuramas advice was strawberry-flavored! The demon also didn't speak to him once more after he left Gaara. As much as he cursed the demon before, now he wanted someone to talk that would understand him.

Silently he left the room with Sakura in his arms and closed the door behind him. The girl was light. One more thing she and Naruto had in common. They both lost weight over those last weeks. But at the same time Naruto wasn't really sure, if she was light. At this moment _everything_ seemed to be light. His legs were light and his head was unusual light. It felt like a balloon floating in the air, more as if it hold his body's weight and made him stand upright, and not the other way round. Naruto carried Sakura to the desk at the beginning of the hallway and was helped by a nurse. He told the nurse also about Sasukes sudden change and sat finally down. His head was still light and his body was so light he almost didn't feel himself.

Naruto couldn't stop but smile at the warm darkness that invaded him. He wanted to giggle at what happened. Somehow he couldn't blame Sasuke. In him was also something that gnawed at his sanity. Through all those weeks there wasn't one single night he didn't dream about Gaara. His green eyes, his red hair, the scar, his hands, his lips, his hips, the feeling of his body, his soft skin - all this hunted after him in his dreams. How was he supposed to get over him?

…

When he opened his eyes, he looked up at the ceiling in a dark room that was only illuminated by moonlight. He was laying in a soft bed and heard someone breathing evenly beside him. He turned his head to see Sakura. Her head lay on her arms on his bed. She slept like a little angle. Slowly unconsciousness invaded him again.

Naruto woke up to the sound of two female voices talking. One of them was Sakura. He opened his eyes slowly and was affirmed in his expectation, the room was awful bright and it hurt his eyes. He blinked a few times before he saw Sakura beaming at him.

"Where am I?" he managed to say with a husky voice despite his sleepiness.

"Konoha General Hospital," the other female voice explained, "you had a breakdown because of malnutrition and deprivation of sleep. The mental shock you experienced with Uchiha Sasuke yesterday made you finally collapse. For now, you should rest and take care of your body." Naruto looked at the source of the voice just to see red hair. He didn't see her face since she left the room after her explanation without giving him another glance. At least her hair was a rather purplish red and not blood-red.

His mind was still awful slow. "Yesterday … Neji!" Naruto wanted to jump out of his bed, but Sakura put her hands firm on his shoulder and pressed him back into the pillow. He looked confused and pleading at her.

"No puppy-eyes! I talked with him already. He don't want to see you for at least a week, he said," she said sternly before sitting down on the chair beside his bed. "And they want you to stay here for at least a second night." Naruto groaned. "No, Naruto! You need to take this serious. I was … I was worried." She looked bashful at her folded hands.

Naruto remembered his musings from the day before he left Gaara. Both of us are too uncertain, if the other one feels the same way, to do the first step. He stared at the ceiling. Even if he wasn't so sure anymore if he loved Sakura, he would learn to love her again. Even if that wasn't the right moment, life had to go on and somewhere he had to make a start. Start to bring the colors back to their both lives. "Hey, Sakura, wanna go drink a coffee with me?"

* * *

Edited 12/07/2013:  
Minor changes in grammatical issues.


	13. Chapter 12: Sand! Red! Green! No, yellow

**A/N: **I have a lot of mood swings … Did you notice or can I cover it up good enough?  
Also, as stated on twitter, my style changed a bit the last two months. Hope you like it.  
And you may kill me. I'm really sorry for neglecting this story for so long, but you know, my mood swings … Plus, this evolved into a full-fledged nightmare.

Oh, and since I'm already advertising everywhere else:

* * *

**Naruto x Gaara fan day 2013  
is on Monday, the 29th of July!**

Visit the corresponding group on dA on that day to see and contribute (hopefully) a lot of Naruto x Gaara art!  
There's also a give-away you can take part in.  
(the link is on my profile)

* * *

**Chapter 12: Sand! Red! Green! No, yellow.**

At least some colors were back. For example yellow and blue, like Inos hair and eyes. Naruto spent a lot of time with the blonde now, due to her friendship with Sakura. Or dark and light brown, pale violet, like Neji and TenTen. Black like Lee.

He remembered as if it was only a few moments ago, how Sakura reacted to his proposal. _"Hey, Sakura, wanna go drink a coffee with me?" _She startled for a moment and blinked at him, but then nodded slowly. It was only weeks later that he learned why she was as hesitant as he was, but nevertheless agreed. Now they were officially together. Their friends said they make a good couple. They didn't know they weren't really. They hold hands, yes, but only in the meaning toddlers did - as friends to stable each other. Nothing more, no kissing, not even special moments.

They both tried their best and it helped to cope. Slowly they were also growing into something Naruto couldn't quite name. He only felt that it was there. The little gestures of Sakura, the brushing of hands and shying away with a blush, him looking at her and once again marveling at her beauty. He never quite understood why Ino teased her with calling her 'Miss Huge Forehead'. Her forehead wasn't that big if you asked Naruto. But then again it was maybe only that Ino simply made something up to tease her.

Now it was almost Christmas. Naruto smiled sad at himself. There was way to go, but being with Sakura helped him and it helped her. She didn't even go to the psychiatry anymore to visit Sasuke and didn't cry every time she saw his photo. With the growing thing they had … Maybe she and Naruto would find their happiness in each other one day.

He wandered through the streets of Konoha and wondered what gift to give her for Christmas. It was only one more week and it was their first Christmas as a _couple_. He couldn't ask the second being in him for advice. Not that he really wanted to, but sometimes Naruto wished, Kurama would talk to him again. The fox was like dead for months now. Wasn't it for asking Iruka if he really gave him the 'talk' - he smirked -, Naruto would think he imagined the whole demon stuff. But Iruka assured him that about six years ago he told him that there was a demon sealed in him.

Upon calling Jiraiya the old pervert told him the same. The conversation with him wasn't quite as pleasant as Naruto had wished. First he was cursed for not getting in touch with him for so long and then asked about the 'little' redhead. All Naruto could do was saying, "I messed it up," and asking his foster father to not inquire about the situation farther.

So he still walked down the streets in need to find a present for Sakura. In front of the fountain downtown he saw a huge crowd of people standing in a semi circle. Curios as Naruto is, he made his way to the front rows and watched a man showing a puppet theatre. The man himself - brown hair, fancy face-paintings and a black jump suit with cat ears on the hood - didn't quite ring a bell with Naruto and one of his puppets - a fat sand- and blue-colored _thing_ - also, but the other puppet was a nine-tailed fox. A demon. Two demons. Gaara and him. He turned on his heel and walked away in a fast pace, not caring about not bumping onlookers and their complaints. He simply needed to get away from there. He needed to think about something different. What was he doing here again? Right, searching for a Christmas present for Sakura. His _girlfriend_.

…

Naruto didn't quite knew why, but Sakura asked him to come to her apartment the afternoon of the 23th. Not that he minded, it was only rare that she was so bent on him being not late. Well, at least in last time. She told him at least five times to not being late on the phone the same morning. He told her, he will be late if she didn't let him go and at least take a shower now. When he hung up finally, Lee beamed at him and talked about the youth of spring … Or something like that. Frankly, Naruto never really listened when Lee had one of his episodes. He simply nodded at the green clad young man and wondered, why he winked at him and gave him thumbs-up. Lee knew something Naruto didn't. But asking made no sense as he would only earn more incomprehensible stuff about spring, youth, lotus and sparkling stars at the moment.

He knocked at Sakuras door and was quite surprised when she opened it moments later, wearing a coat, her boots and holding a bag out for him to carry. He tilted his head in question, but took the bag anyway and followed her when she walked past him.

"Sakura? Where are we going?" he asked after a few minutes of walking quietly down the streets. They still didn't need much words to communicate, but this time he simply didn't know what was going on.

"We're taking a little break! Just you, me and the holiday home of my parents," she giggled soft.

"But- What about work? I have to be there tomorrow!" Naruto explained nervous.

"Nope~. I made Neji a proposal he couldn't pass up." Sakura had a smug smile on her face.

Naruto furrowed his brows. He'd ask her later what she did to get his boss' nose down from the clouds and give him off on the 24th. "Clothes?"

"Lee." She giggled again. So he knew really something.

Naruto sighed. "Your present!" he realized and turned around.

Sakura stopped, turned to look at him and put a hand on his shoulder, causing Naruto to face her again. Her eyes were soft and she smiled. "Later, Naruto. We have all time in the world." She moved a bit into his direction, but turned then back abruptly and continued her track to the train station, how Naruto could identify now.

The train ride was quiet and there were hardly any passengers beside them. Naruto was somehow surprised how Sakura cuddled against him, though. It didn't feel bad, but it didn't feel right either, holding her in his arm and her head resting on his shoulder.  
When they boarded the train, Naruto had an odd feeling in his stomach. And now, when he breathed the fresh air, he knew why. Somewhere deep in him the name of their destination on his ticket told him, this place would bring back memories he didn't want. Sakuras parents holiday home was in a little village at the coast. To be worse, the house itself stood directly at the beach. Beach meant sand and sand was synonymic with a certain redhead. Naruto took a deep breath of the salty air and pushed the thoughts back into the last corner of his mind.

…

December, 24th, evening. Sakura took his hand and they left the house for the beach, a blanket in her other hand.

"There will be fireworks later on the pier," she chirped in anticipation. She saw the confused look in Narutos face at the rather unusual tradition. "Don't ask me neither," she laughed, "but it's common practice here ever since I remember." They sat for some time quiet in the darkness on the beach, only the sounds of the sea and their breathing were to hear, before Sakura decided to break the silence between them once more. "You seem happier now."

"Wasn't I always happy?" he asked in cheerful tone. He practiced a lot for this tone to convince his friends and a smile was on his lips, but he still wasn't able to let it reach his eyes.

"No … Not during the last months." Naruto saw her sad smile in the twilight of the full moon. Her head rested against his shoulder, but she moved back to look into his eyes. "You need to know, _I'm_ happier now."

"Why weren't you happy?" He couldn't hold her gaze and looked into his lap, already knowing the answer somehow.

"Sasuke." Naruto nodded understanding. "I want you to be happy, Naruto. It hurts me to see you not smiling anymore, to not see the usual glint in your eyes."

"I am smiling, don't you see?" he asked sheepishly and pointed at his mouth.

"No, you aren't." Naruto let his head drop to his chin.

They were silent again and in the distance the firework display started. Sakura looked intensely at him and leaned in to gave him a peck on the corner of his lips. Narutos head snapped up, eyes wide. He felt the sand under his hands beside the blanket and let his fingers glide through the silky material. Inside him was something in a turmoil. His eyes scanned Sakuras form and the something came to a conclusion. _"No!"_

Sakura blinked at him and asked, "Did you say something, Naruto?" Her voice seemed to be so distant.

Did he really say something? Was that voice not only in his head? Was it his voice? It was a bit like Kurama, but not entirely. Also the old fox didn't talk with him for months now, even when Naruto tried to talk with him and pleaded him to answer. "I'm sorry Sakura," he managed to say and stood up. His own voice seemed to be so far away and his body felt as if it moved on its own. "I … I can't do this. I have to go." He saw Sakura still sitting, trembling and with wide eyes staring at him. He didn't care. "I'm sorry." Naruto turned around and walked to the train station.

_"Sand!" _ He tugged at his hair, his head was exploding.

_"Red!" _He hold his head, everything was spinning.

_"Green!" _He scratched his skin, it was burning.

_"No, yellow." _He rubbed his eyes, they were twitching.

_"Get a strawberry-cake." _He stopped.

"Where?"

_"Train station. Convenience shop. Frosted." _Naruto nodded. In the distance he heard the fireworks.

…

It was already after midnight when Naruto knocked at the door in the highest story in a building in Konoha. But he knew the inhabitant was either not there or awake. Long time nothing happened and Naruto wanted to sit down beside the door when it slowly opened. First only a little bit, after a short moment more. Yellow eyes stared down at Naruto, never resting on a spot for long. The blond gulped and extended the cardboard box in his hands.

"Cake?" he asked with a high voice, already seeing the sand moving behind the redheaded vessel.

Kurama chuckled darkly. _"So I was right after all. No need for the cake to lure _him_ out."_

"Wha-?"

_"Run."_

Naruto didn't let the kyuubi say that twice, dropped the cake and ran down the stairs. He made it down a few stairs, when he felt sand scratching over his neck, but it receded to his surprise. Then he heard steps behind him.

_"Faster!"_

Naruto tried to, but he made it only to the door at the end of the stairs before he felt a hand slipping firmly over his mouth and sand sliding against the skin of his wrists and ankles.

_"It seems you pissed him really off," _Kurama chuckled with glee.

"Mhmhu?" He tried to speak against the hand on his lips, effortless. Naruto was too surprised over the good mood of the kyuubi than to cry for help or struggle against the strong hold of the sand. The fox understood him nevertheless.

_"Oh, usually Shukaku likes only a few things more than a good hunt."_

The hand on his mouth was replaced by sand. The demon that controlled his friend toppled him over and grabbed his wrists to drag him up the stairs.

_"He's still such a sadist~! He could be lazy and let us float, but no, he still knows how to do things good~ How I missed it! He's a low bastard, but he's good," _Kurama purred.

Finally Naruto started to scream, but the sand muffled his voice enough for nobody to hear him.

_"Don't panic. He won't kill you. Oh, forgot, for you that might be better."_

Naruto tried to struggle with his whole body and fight against the force that dragged him up to Gaaras apartment. Until he hit his head at a stair and everything turned black.

…

Naruto blinked slowly his eyes open. His head hurt like hell and he didn't dare to move his body, already now feeling a dull ache everywhere. The first he saw were green eyes, but those eyes receded as soon as he saw them. Still there was no chance he was wrong, those were Gaaras eyes. His friend was back to consciousness now at least. Naruto turned his head to follow those green eyes and cursed under his breath, when he felt a sharp sting in his neck and heard a creaking sound. Gaara sat on a chair from the kitchen, a small plate in his hand with a little piece of strawberry cake on it. Naruto watched him eating the cake for a moment, while Gaara didn't give him any attention at all, and took in his surroundings. He was in the living room, on the couch that belonged there. On the coffee table was the rest of the cake in a not too goo looking shape. Naruto tried to move his limbs after all, but found himself unable to do so. He looked down, searching for the reason, and saw himself from his neck downwards completely cocooned in sand, causing him to panic.

"I wanted to do this already on the first day you were back to Konoha," Naruto heard Gaara say calm. "Kyuubi, patch him up."

_"Oh man, he's such a killjoy~"_

Gaara growled low, almost animalistic, when nothing happened. Naruto froze and tried to understand what was happening.

_"Okay, okay, tell him I'm doing my best."_

Naruto was more than confused about what was going on and still not on good terms with the thought about being completely wrapped up by sand. "He said he's doing his best," he said taken aback nevertheless. "But ... What were you referring to?"

Gaara lifted one of his non-existent eyebrows. "Maybe the kyuubi told you everything after all and you just forgot," he chuckled, "when you don't remember even this?"

"What are you talking about?" The redhead made Naruto nervous.

Gaara leaned in until their noses were only inches apart, his eyes half-lidded. "Don't tell me you forgot how I asked you to share my bed."

He remembered and a cold shiver run down his spine. "No joke then?"

Gaara shook his head no. "Actually it took me a lot to not make the same what Shukaku did with you." He smirked. "And now I'll wait for the kyuubi to patch you up. It won't be fun when you faint too early."

Naruto gulped and felt Kurama purring. _"No killjoy~ Shukaku's got him a good boy. No wonder he let him take over again. Though I still feel him being dominant. That's still not the 'Gaara' you know."_

Gaara backed off and left Narutos field of vision. "Let him sleep, Kyuubi," was the last thing Naruto heard him say before everything turned black once more.

…

Naruto didn't dare to open his eyes and tried to breath deep and even. He feigned sleep. He wasn't anymore in the sand cocoon on the couch, that much was clear. Soft cloth nestled against his skin and gave him the feeling he was actually laying in a bed with a pillow and a blanket. His attempts to shift his position were successful, no sand restricted him. It was dark around him, that much Naruto could tell, but he didn't know how long he slept. The kyuubi was also alarmingly quiet.

Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Naruto had the feeling he was alone and so blinked his eyes open slowly. Trying to understand where he was and why he was apparently naked laying in a strangers bed, he sat up. His eyes adjusted to the darkness fast and he noticed that he knew this room, though he absolutely couldn't tell when and why he was in it before. Pulling the blanket over his shoulders and covering himself up as good as possible, he stood up and looked for the window he simply _knew_ was somewhere behind him. For the same reason he knew about the window, he knew he could get out of the room unnoticed through it. He drew back the curtains and saw a familiar balcony and courtyard laying in darkness.

So this was Gaaras room. He didn't remember to have ever been in the redheads room before, but seeing how everything was right now, there was something wrong with his ability to remember important things. Naruto tried to open the window, but found it locked. He huffed and turned to look for the key - but found nothing after long minutes of searching. The only other way to leave the room was the door. Naruto feared to walk into Gaara, or rather a Shukaku-influenced Gaara, but waiting here for him was even worse. Maybe the door was also locked, but there was only one way to answer this. Careful he pulled the handle down and the door opened without any sound.

The corridor was as dark as Gaaras room and he couldn't hear or sense anyone. He looked hurried to both sides before sneaking to the living room and heading for the front door of the apartment. When he passed the kitchen, he stopped. No, running away again wasn't was he was going to do now. Gaara was his friend and the redhead had problems. Though Naruto maybe didn't know as much about demons as Gaara did, he would be there for him.

Naruto decided to sit down on the couch in the living room, but found it occupied by a sleeping man he saw once before, the puppeteer from downtown. Without his facial paintings, lay sprawled on Gaaras couch. Said couch was in fact similar to the couch he slept on only months ago, though it felt like years, but was different. Was he in another apartment after all? Weren't this Gaaras realms? The carpet and all the other furniture was the same. It was only the couch that was different.

He looked down at the man and somehow, without the paint in his face, Naruto couldn't discard the feeling of having seen this man before, even before seeing him downtown. Naruto furrowed his brows, the face was indeed familiar … Somehow ... He looked a bit like Temari. Temari … Wasn't there a third sibling? How was it again? Kankuro? Kankuro that had a passion for … Dolls! Of course. Naruto turned to go to 'his' old room, when he suddenly heard something rustling in the living room.

"If I were Temari you'd been dead by now." Naruto turned around at the deep voice and saw Kankuro sitting upright, his head propped on his hands on the back of the couch, eyes fixated on Naruto. "Be grateful I'm not my sister." The brunette turned around. "But if you intend to run away again while Gaara's gone, know I'm not as gentle as Shukaku was with you." Naruto heard the front door clacking. "Speaking of the _demon_. I guess I'll go then." He did as he said and Naruto heard the door click one more time a few moments later.

It was awkward quiet, but he could feel he wasn't alone. Around the corner was Gaara, or Shukaku, he didn't know yet. His hand wandered to the handle of the door to his old room and pulled it down, only to find it locked. He turned to the door on the other side of the corridor, but it was in the same state. That was when he heard Gaara, though he still didn't see him.

"I'm sorry." Naruto was silent, not knowing what to say without provoking the redhead. "I can't stop it." Gaaras voice was almost a whisper and Naruto didn't know if he was hearing a desperate undertone.

"Stop what?" escaped Narutos lips before he could stop it. Then he heard the sand rustling.

"Shukaku," Gaara added needlessly. The sand caressed Narutos cheek and send him shivering. "But I think it's safe for now. He's calm, as much as you can say that for him. He's only … curious."

Before he knew what he actually did, Naruto walked down the hallway and turned around the corner to see Gaara sitting on the ground, leaning on the wall and looking somewhere into the distance, and sat down beside his friend. "What's going on here?" he asked mumbling.

Gaara furrowed his brows. "You never fought with the kyuubi, am I right?"

Naruto shook his head hesitant. "What are you talking about?"

"Demons usually try to take over their host," the redheaded vessel explained shortly, "and Shukaku was and will always be rather eager to have my body. At the moment … I'm not strong enough to suppress his powers. And sometimes he takes me over, as you may have noticed."

"But how- … Why? It didn't happen ever before, why now?" Naruto asked worried.

Gaara turned his head and blinked at him. "Didn't happen ever before? Did you really not notice?"

"Notice what?" he was answered snippy.

Gaara turned back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The first time you spoke to me."

"What about it?"

"Maybe it was too short for you to notice," he said more to himself, "but Shukaku hit me offhanded then and was able to take over for the split of a second. Figures if I hadn't fight him down fast enough, you'd be dead now."

Naruto tensed but nodded understanding. "So I didn't imagine it in the end. And now? I mean _you_ weren't there earlier and I'm still alive."

Gaara shrugged. "He simply likes to torture me. And though the kyuubi doesn't fight you, he seemingly is fond of making my life more complicated than it is already."

"Kurama? How can he affect you at all?"

Gaara smirked and leaned over to Naruto. "You said you can't hold your liquor. I think it's more that he doesn't want to fight you on a regular basis, so that you don't know _when_ he does. He can take you over without any problems then, making you believe you have a blackout seems to be a good tactic. He's still a cunning fox, indeed. _That_ night proved it."

Narutos eyes widened. "That-" Gaara nodded and Naruto clapped his hands in front of him and squinted his eyes in a pleading manner. "Whatever he - I - did to you, I'm so sorry!"

Gaaras smirk grew. "Sorry for what? That he knew how to read my looks at you? That his teasing let something snap in me and I took you almost unprepared, not caring if you were crying in pain or in lust?"

The blond slid away a bit with wide eyes. "You-"

Before Naruto was able to say anything more, Gaaras hand jerked up to his own head and he fisted his hair. "Go!" he commanded suddenly through gritted teeth. Naruto felt something change in the aura of his friend and slid away further, too overwhelmed by the pressure on him to actually stand up and follow Gaaras demand. "Go away!" the redhead screeched trembling, tugging stronger at his own hair. Narutos eyes widened with fear, he never heard Gaaras voice rising before, and he never thought he'd hear such a disturbing sound in his life.

Suddenly the redhead was calm. Almost too calm. He simply sat there, chin on his chest and face covered by his bangs. The next thing Naruto knew was that Gaaras lips were on his and that his head hurt from when he hit the ground. As fast as everything happened, the redhead jumped back and looked with wide green eyes at him.

_"I think now is the right time to show you," _Kurama said somewhere back in his head.

And then the memories came.

* * *

**A/N2:**  
So while writing this I reread chapter 8 and I have to say:  
1.) **I NEED A BETA!** Anyone, please … Sometimes I switch tenses without noticing and somehow skip it while proofreading. You know what? I won't update until I have someone who reads over my chapters ;_;  
2.) Never ever write when drunk (even though it was just a bit) again. I was literally able to tell where I tried to loosen up a bit while writing my first lemon. I don't even know how I was able to deem this good enough to be uploaded … So many faults. Luckily I don't need this anymore.  
3.) I decided to rework it a bit. Nothing major, only a few "," deleted, 2 or 3 words exchanged, double words deleted, put in some more paragraphs. I guess in time I'll rework and adjust all chapters.

Another thing - I wrote a very short story called "Butterflies". Go check it out? *hearts* Though it's rated K, it's not as lighthearted as it may sound. _Not at all._

Baba till next time, Madea.

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**26/06/2013:  
**1.) Found a beta! Still can't say when the next chapter will be online. I already started, but I'm ill at the moment -.-  
2.) As for now, the next chapter will most likely be the last one. Maybe I will write one day a sequel under the name of Night(mare)s. There are already some ideas in my head, but I'm not entirely sure. Somehow this fic makes me feel strange while writing on it.  
3.) I'm already writing on some other stories, all Naruto x Gaara. Give my profile a look and tell me what you want to see online next.

-Madea


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